The resurrection of Jesus Christ marks a new beginning and a new period of grace, signified by the first day of the week, the Lord's Day. This new era is foreshadowed by the Old Testament feasts of First Fruits and Pentecost, with Christ as the first fruits of the resurrection and the church being born on the fiftieth day. The sermon highlights the disciples' reactions to the resurrection, contrasting Peter's zeal with John's love, and emphasizes that love is swift and believing. It also explores the significance of the orderly grave clothes as proof of Christ's unhurried resurrection and the new relationship established through Christ's ascension, where believers are called 'brethren,' partakers of the heavenly calling. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to 'consider' Christ as their apostle and high priest, using the analogy of astronomers studying the heavens to encourage a deep, ongoing exploration of Christ's glories through the Bible and the Holy Spirit, leading to a profound understanding and acceptance of Him as Lord and God.
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Verse one, John twenty and verse one. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. Then she runeth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciples whom Jesus loved, the other disciples whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away this Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth on that other disciple and came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together. The other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulcher.
And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in. Then come Simon Peter following him. went into the sepulcher and seeeth the linen clothed last, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothed, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without the sepulcher weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and see a few angels in white sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She says unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have lain him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, woman, Why weepest thou, whom she dost thou? She supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him. Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast made him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto him, Robunag, which is the same, master.
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not. for I am not yet ascended to my Father. For go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things unto her. Then the same day and evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace. be unto you. When he had so said he showed unto them his hand and his staff. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. When he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them. whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. He said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
And after eight days again his disciples were within. Thomas with them, then came Jesus, the doors being shut and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side. Be not faithless but believing. Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. The Lord add his blessing to his word. We've been speaking two or three times recently on this chapter, one of those chapters that seems full, especially of the one subject, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some new things, new things of Christianity found in this wonderful chapter. As our announcement in the newspaper, we want to speak upon the truth of life, life and love, and then the test of life, life and love, and then finally the triumph.
of life, light and of love. You know, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they lead up to the rejection of Jesus Christ. But John begins with the rejection of Jesus Christ. There's quite a difference as you compare the Gospels. As I've already said, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they lead up to the final rejection, the official rejection, of Jesus Christ by the nation. But John starts right off, he says, He came unto His own, in chapter one. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him, to them gave He the power or the authority to become the children of God.
Because John's gospel seems to be directed and applied more to the Gentile world, to the people of God, those who are saved out of all nations. whereas the others seem to give emphasis to and a strong coloring to the Jewish nation. So John is taking up the children of God, the people of God. How wonderful are the things he writes about? John tells us more about the scenes of the resurrection. For instance, you take chapter twenty-one, whether we'll be speaking on that in this series or not, I'm not sure. But in chapter twenty-one, you don't have that in the other Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke.
But John records it, and it's very interesting and very profitable. Then the remark to Mary, you don't find it in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, verse seventeen. Jesus said unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God, and to your God. Now, none of the other Gospels mentioned that, but John mentioned it. In other words, he says, my brethren is introducing a new relationship we'll speak about a little later on. He says, my Father and your Father, not our Father and our God. Now there's quite a difference. The Lord Jesus did not say, I ascend to our Father and our God.
He said, I ascend to my Father and to your Father, my God, and to your God. Now there's quite a difference. In other words, the Lord Jesus is just like the clothes here. You notice the clothes, the napkin that was wrapped about his head. It says it was lying in a place by itself. Everything, every detail connected with the resurrection of Christ is very interesting. That which was about his head, here's the nap, and it's in a place by itself, nicely pulled, because the head must be seen separate from the body, the body grave clothes were by themselves. Christ is the head. We are the body. He is over the body.
And Christ is just like the great world that were in a place by themselves. The napkin that was around his head. Christ is in a place by himself. In all things he must have the preeminence. God has anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellow. And so Jesus Christ, although he is our Savior, he's our Lord, he's one we look up to. He's the head of the body. We're subject to Christ, the head. And so it's remarkable he doesn't say, I ascend to our God and our Father. But my God and my Father, your God and your Father.
He puts himself in that place of preeminence. You notice here that Joseph brings the linen in this passage and Nicodemus bring spices. Now this is very interesting. Two members of the Sanhedrin, two men high in the religious life of Israel, Nicodemus, you have his conversion in John chapter three. And between the two of them, they certainly make their contribution to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Between them they provide the linen, Joseph, brings a linen, Nicodemus brings a spider, and here's a garden owned by Joseph, and undoubtedly he personally has he, the sepulchre, where he himself intended to be buried.
But he gave it to the saints. So between these two men, these two men provide a lot, don't they? They provide the linen and the spices, the garden and the virgin too. And remember this, Christ must be perched as he was in the virgin womb. He must be first. He gets first blink. In order to see these two, they boldly severed their link with the sand heathen and the temple. The moment they did this and identified themselves publicly with the risen Christ, they automatically severed their connection with the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin would not have two members on its board who believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because the Sanhedrin did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.
So thus they severed their relationship completely with the Sanhedrin and with the temple when they took the linen and the spices and placed the son of God in that new virgin tomb. who's in the garden that Joseph holds. Now you have a new period of grace here in verse one. You'll notice what it says concerning the first day of the week. Now on the first day of the week. The Sabbath, the Old Testament Sabbath, it's the seventh day, and it stands for the end of a work week. God rested on the seventh day. And God told the children of Israel, it's in the Ten Commandments, keep the Sabbath day.
The Sabbath day is the seventh day. The first day of the week is the eighth day. It's a new beginning. Yesterday is the old Jewish Sabbath. Today is the Lord's day. This is the first day of the week. This is a new beginning. Jesus Christ rose on the first day of the week. meaning this, here's a new beginning. A new period of grace is being introduced. Now there are some sincere souls, and they're still keeping yesterday as the Sabbath. They're back under the law. They're not under grace, for their church is under grace. And Jesus Christ, He rose on the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath.
So you have this first day of the week, the new day, the Lord's day. You know there are two amazing things, feasts in the Old Testament. There are seven in Leviticus chapter twenty-three, and you have the feast of first fruits and the feast of Pentecost, two of those feasts. The feast of first fruits speaks of resurrection. In other words, in those days the farmer, he has a wonderful crop, and he wants to show his appreciation to the God of creation, and they should be his God by redemption too. And so this farmer, he brings the first fruits. He selects the very best, maybe of fruits or vegetables or grains.
Why, he's very particular, as he assembles all those stocks of wheat. What a wonderful bunch he has. What a wonderful sheep. And on this day, the feast of first fruits, he brings is off. And he gives God the first. He gives God the best. Before he touches any of the grain, before he touches any of the fruit, before he touches any of the vegetables, this belongs to God at the first root. And this speaks of resurrection. Your Bible says that. Christ the first fruits. In First Corinthians, fifteen, twenty-three. Christ the first fruits. Afterwards, they that are Christ at his coming. Christ, nineteen hundred years ago, was the first seed.
way before Almighty God, when he was raised from the dead, and Jesus Christ was the first begotten from the dead, and he virtually said, Father, find the first sheep. There is a mighty harvest of all. And everyone who is saved by the grace of God is but a sheep that will be presented to the Father in that day when the Lord Jesus will say, Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me. and so the very fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that first sheep, indicating a mighty harvest, and for nineteen hundred years those have been saved, saved by the grace of God. They are but the harvest that is to follow.
Many years ago traveling, found my home in Ontario out to Vancouver, a distance of three thousand miles by train. I went through the west. My was a wonderful sight. There's a movie out on the Golden West. But as I went out, you looked over the grain. You couldn't see a fence anywhere. As far as your eye could see, for out there on the prairies the farms were not divided up into little twenty-acre fields. As far as your eye could see, nothing but beautiful grain. And the sun was setting. I don't suppose I'll ever see anything like it in my life. And it seemed that the wind blew the waves like the wave of the sea.
You just thought you were looking out on a golden sea, as the sun was setting on the golden gray, and the waves paused by the wind. But on the way back, they had cut the gray two or three weeks later, and it was all stooped up, and you know it was a beautiful thing. As far as I could see as it went off into the distance, The stukes were so numerous when they're off in the distance. It looked like a way over there, miles away, the grain was still in the field uncut. But it was because of so many stukes together at a distance. I never saw such a beautiful sight of golden grain. And I couldn't help thinking of that scripture. Christ the first fruit, afterwards they that are Christ that is coming.
All over this world today, if you find God's people, one here, two there, three there, But the day is coming when they'll all be gathered in. All were saved by the grace of God. All washed in his precious blood. All like him. For we shall see him and be like him. But I'm giving back to the first fruits in Israel today. And then the Pentecost. The Feast of Pentecost. And this is what I want to emphasize. Both of those feasts were on the morrow after the Sabbath. Now you can read that in... Leviticus twenty-three. The feast of first fruits was on the moral after the Sabbath.
Meaning the feast of first fruits when they brought that, it was typical of resurrection, was after the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the day before. Bringing out this wonderful New Testament truth that Jesus Christ rose on the first day of the week after the Sabbath. You didn't know your Bible, by the way, that actor did. And then the Pentecost was fifty days. Well, Pentecost means this. When the Spirit of God came, it came on the fiftieth day. Now, seven-sevens are forty-nine. There you have seven Sabbaths. And the day after the seventh Sabbath, the fiftieth day, the Spirit of God came down and formed the church. So you see, Christ rose on the first day of the week, and the church was born on the first day of the week.
How wonderful is our Bible? So you have this new beginning. On the day... after the Sabbath. The church was born, the Lord's Supper was given and kept on the first day of the week. You read that in Acts twenty-seven. The disciples came together on the first day of the week to break bread, and that's what we do here at the chapel every Sunday morning. We come together to remember the Lord Jesus at nine forty-five to ten forty-five, as the disciples did, and were exhorted to keep the apostles up. He steadfast, and the apostles got in breaking of bread. fellowship and prayers and so on. And so you have not only the Lord's day, the first day of the week, the Lord's supper is kept on the first day of the week, the church was born on the first day of the week.
And you know the strange thing, the only time in the New Testament you read of a collection being taken, it too was on the first day of the week. You read that in First Corinthians, sixteen one. Now concerning the collection, on the first day of the week, when you come together. And it's very clear that the collection, the offering, was in connection with the Lord's Supper when they came together for communion. Why was it that only born-again people should bring an offering to the Lord? My Bible says the offerings of the wicked or the unsaved are an abomination to God. That's why we only have one collection here at the chapel, and that that's when the Lord's people meet, to remember Him every Sunday morning.
Other Christians who can't get to the worship meeting, I wish they could, they have their opportunity, as you well know, at the box in the back. But we never take an offer at any other service, because the Bible doesn't say we should. It says that on the first day of the week, when you're come to get, here take your collection. Now, you know, don't preach this. Man, they wouldn't miss any day of the week. They'll take an offering in the morning. If they had two meetings a day, if they had three on a day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, they wouldn't let an opportunity pass, but pass the place. It's nice to get back to a script with a principle, didn't it?
And so you have the first day of the week, the new beginning, and then the new proof of the resurrection. You know, this was quite interesting to me. Peter and John, when they hear that Christ has risen, they start off. Very strange to me. Peter was the elder. He was quite confident, because John was the younger of the disciples. You know, he thought he could outrun young John. But he could. I wonder why Peter couldn't run as fast as John that morning. He likely thought he could. I don't think it's because he's a little older. I think he had some leg in his shoes. He was running and yet he didn't want to run.
All the time he was thinking, the last time I saw the Lord, I denied him. And he turned and looked on me at the fire. And I just got through saying, I didn't know him. I didn't know whether I want to see him or not. He was running with excitement. Could he be alive? And yet I don't know whether I want to see him. I believe that's what put the brakes on. led within his shoes, and John outran Peter. And John came first to the sepulter. You know, love is swift, didn't it? Yes, Peter stands for zeal. John is the disciple of love.
Love is very swift. Zeal just can't keep up with it. If you see a young fellow starting out, I've seen quite a number of them in my life. starting out a young fellow's anxious to preach. They've got the pulpit bug, and they want to preach all the time. Yes, and oh, my, they start out, the sails all out. Just wait a little while. They don't last too long. They run out of breath, and many of them go back to their jobs. He said, I had love more than seeds that I stuck with. Now, you married folks. I'm out of my field here.
But if you married, folks, you had to have more than zeal when you got married, or it wouldn't have lasted very long, would it? You may have been Salazar, but if you don't have love, it's just not going to work. Love lasts. Love never fails. But zeal can run out of breath. They lose their steam. And so zeal... It was beat on this morning. John was loved. Oh, yes. The other man, Peter. But you know there's something strange too when they got to the sepulcher. John was still standing peering in. He got there first.
Peter came along, and Peter went in a little further, and he saw. But I like the difference. John saw the linen clothes, and the clothes lying there, and the lead. Peter didn't. You read that. Peter saw the linen clothes, period. John looked at him. John saw and he believed. Ah, yet love will believe. Zeal is hard to convince sometimes, but love is swift and love is believing. John saw and he believed. You know, when you think of the linen clothes lying there, very interesting. The sleeping guard, because the guard did have a deep sleep, caused to come upon them when Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
And later on, when this thing was known to the authorities, especially the scribes and the Pharisees, the high priests, they tried to buy off the guard. When the guards rallied from their slumber, they found the tomb was empty. They didn't know what to make them. And so they went and reported it. And the Jewish authorities said, I tell you, we'll pay you some money. And you say that his disciples came by night and stole him away while he slept. And we'll pay you and we'll talk it over with your boss so you won't lose your job. Well, how foolish that argument. Either that his friends or his foes had taken the body of Jesus Christ.
You know yourself that if his friends had taken the body, they would have reverently kept him in the clothes that were about it. They wouldn't have taken and left the clothes behind. If his friends had taken them or stolen them, they would have reverently kept them in his grave clothes. And if his enemies had stolen them, now you can imagine how a person steals them, they don't take any time or waste any time. They grab what they want and they get away. You notice how the grave clothes were all orderly laid. Just simply meaning this, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter morning, he wasn't in a hurry.
He came out of the grave closed and he pulled the knife. He took the napkin that was around his head and he pulled it neatly and he laid it in a place by itself. He was in no hurry. Now had his enemies stolen him, you know yourself, they had taken him, pulled him off. And if they had got written in the clothes, read of the clothes, they certainly wouldn't have pulled them up and laid them orderly in the tomb. They had pulled them in the corner and got out, showing how the arguments that the soldiers put up were groundless. Now you come to the third thing, the new place of favor. Verse seventeen I read a while ago.
He said, I ascend to my God, to your God, to my Father, and to your Father. And he speaks of my brethren. My brethren in verse seventy. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren. Isn't this wonderful, a new place of favor, my brethren? You know, John speaks of the Lord's people as my sheep, my friend, but I love when he says my brethren. My sheep. Well, that's very nice. Be one of his sheep. But here's the shepherd, and he's got these sheep, but naturally he loves his sheep, but he doesn't love his sheep like he loves his children.
He says, not only my sheep, not only my friends, you have friends, but you don't love your friends like you love your brethren, your family. He says, even my brethren, he's brought us into this new place of favor, my brethren. You know how wonderful he, he's not ashamed of all of that. He that sanctify them, they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause. He says, I shame, sir, Carl and Brethren. Isn't that a wonderful thing? And in Hebrews thirteen and one he says, Holy Brethren, how can I be holy? I can't work up holiness. My holiness is only obtained in my union with Jesus Christ.
And you cannot manufacture, you cannot work up, you cannot generate holiness. The only holiness I have as a Christian, I have it through Jesus Christ. Christ is made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification. Jesus Christ is my holiness. He's my righteousness. He's my redemption. He's everything to me. Anything apart from him is not of God. He says, Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly cause, It's only when we're partakers of Jesus Christ and partakers of the divine nature can he call us holy. It's a word you all are hesitant to use.
Me, a poor sinner, holy, saved by grace, it's only because of what Jesus Christ is to me and made me can I dare to say I'm holy. That's where the new nature comes in, the new life in Jesus Christ. For every Christian has two natures. He has the old nature, but he's got the new nature. The new nature is holy. The old nature is unholy. And remember, the old nature can no more be holy than the new nature can be sinful. They're separate. Jesus Christ can sin. Impossible for him to sin. Well, he is my righteousness.
He is my holiness. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus Christ can sin. but this whole nature that I was born to this world will sin if you let it do it. If Christ is not in the place of the eminent, the place of authority, he speaks about sin that dwelleth in you. But he says, don't let sin reign. There's a big difference between sinning and sin dwelling and sin reigning. If Christ is on the throne, then sin is dwelling as a servant in the place where it belongs. But if Christ is dethroned, He's welling in the heart always. The Bible says that. He'll be with you forever.
But think of sin being in the place of prominence in the Christian's life. That's the teachings of Romans chapter six. The moon is here. Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly college, thought and considered the apostle and high priest of our profession, Jesus Christ. Consider the high priest. There he is, as our representative to God. The apostle and high priest of our presence. As apostle, as prophet, he's God's representative to man. As high priest, he's man's representative to God. This is the one he says, I want you to consider. You know that word consider is a very interesting word.
It's an astronomical term used by astronomers. David says, when I consider the heavens, the work of thy hands. Yes, David, you may consider the heavens, but I am going to consider the creator of them. How wonderful that word! Consider, used as I say, by astronomers. Here are the astronomers, and they are peering out into the heavens. They sit at the base of that huge telescope, as that beam of light peels out into space. And here they sit, considering the heavens. They sit for the hour, manipulating that intricate machine, and they're looking for new constellations, for new stars, new sun, as they peer out into the heavenly box.
You know, Christian, God has put into your hand and mine a wonderful telescope. What is this Bible? You ever sit at this Bible? peering through its pages, its lens, looking for something new about the Lord Jesus, some precious new constellation, something that you've never heard or seen before about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's wonderful, but you're going to have to take time looking through this telescope. There are many stars you see by the naked eyes you grew up in the evening last night. I hate to go in. Right before, I just stood out and I looked up at that beautiful sky.
I looked at, you see almost every star, you think, every star. You see millions of them by the nature, naked eye. But friend, there are stars, there are suns, there are solar systems, far beyond the reach of our vision. And you have to have the aid of a telescope, a powerful one. to reach far beyond what you can see with the human eye, the way out there, millions and millions of years, light years. There they are, but you need the aid of an telescope, a powerful one. You know, sinners, unsaved people can see some stars about the Lord Jesus Christ.
You just read the Bible, even if you're not a Christian. By the natural eye, you can see some wonderful things about the Lord Jesus. He was without sin. He was loving. He fed the poor. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. Lots of things about the Lord Jesus that unsaved people admire. They can see these glories in Jesus Christ by the natural eye. But let me tell you something. There are glories in Jesus Christ that you have to be born again to see. And you need the aid of this telescope and the Holy Spirit to help you. Then you'll see glories in Jesus Christ. you'll see virtues in him that no natural eye or unsaved person ever saw.
Oh, the moons of his mercy, the sun of his sovereignty, the stars of his greatness, and as you see the three for the heavenly bodies, everything is graceful. You don't see any collisions out in the stars. As you see those stars whirling around in their respective courses, each one in its orbit, there are no collisions. Everything is in harmony. Everything is all in order. Everything is graceful and graceful in its movement as you look at it. That was true of the Lord Jesus. Even as men saw him on the saved men, he was full of grace and truth.
How graciously he moved, the sweet of his garment as he walked among men. None could compare with him. Everything he did was perfect. There was nothing jarring about the Son of God. Everything about him you've had to admire. But, old friend, when you come to know him as your Savior, when you get the light of God in your soul, when the Spirit of God enters in, you spend a little time Looking through this telescope, you'll see glories in Jesus Christ you never thought existed. And they're there. When I was first saved, I had the privilege of being brought up with a man named Mr.
Taylor who really knew his Bible, real Bible teacher. In fact, there were about twelve men who did preach laymen in the church where I was brought up in the Ascendant. Men who knew Hebrew and Greek. I tell you, when you got up and preached in that little church, you better be on the ball, as they say. But if you didn't dot every I and cross every T that pull you off the side after you get off the platform, and they just opened their Bible, they wouldn't say it. They'd just open the Bible and point out a text. You likely misquoted it, or you gave a misapplication. Said, do it, gracious. You know, I would read my Bible. after I was taken.
I thought I saw something that no one else in the world had ever seen in the Bible about the Lord Jesus. I'd go to Mr. Taylor and I said, Mr. Taylor, you know what I saw? And I'd tell him what I saw. My little cup was bubbling over because I thought I saw something new about the Lord Jesus. When I got to, he was very patient. When I got to a time, he said, I saw that forty years ago. Oh. Forty years ago. Because he was a young Christian himself. But you know, on two or three occasions, after a couple of years, I got studied in my Bible. And two or three times I went to him. And I said, Mr. Taylor, I saw this in that verse. You know, he says, I never saw that book.
I never heard. Oh, I saw a new star. I saw a new constellation. And I've been looking through this telescope now for thirty-five years. Hardly a week after that I don't see something new in Jesus' life. something I never saw before or heard about. Because the heavens are full of the glory of Jesus Christ, and all it takes is time and patience to peer through these scriptures, and you'll see. That's the meaning of the word, consider. Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly Father, consider as an astronomer our high priest and apostle of Jesus Christ.
If you know the eyes of God's people, men with penetrating powers of perception, Greek and Hebrew scholars, yes, learned men. Like Sir Robert Anderson, the head of Scotland, Yard and England, who is one of the greatest lawyers ever lived. He said to them, they were a wonderful Christian. And oh, to think of the minds that have been peering through the scriptures of the heavens. and the books that have been written concerning Jesus Christ. They all see something new and wonderful about God's beloved Son. We've only touched the hem of this garment.
We're like children paddling on the beach of a mighty ocean. The great eternity is before us, and then there'll be one eternal unfolding of the glories and graces of Jesus Christ. I wonder, this is all because he rose again. in the day. And that he's called us holy dreads, our takers of the heavenly cross. You know there's something interesting here. He said to Mary, Touch me not. But I have not yet ascended to my father. Now some strangely tried to read into that that the Lord Jesus had to go up to heaven and show himself, present himself to the father before anybody on earth could touch him.
I think it's wrong. Because the disciples had come and held them by the feet, there's no real significance in Mary in prohibiting her from touching him, that the disciples had held them by the feet. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ was more or less trying to straighten Mary out. She likely connected what he had said in John chapter fourteen in my father's house or many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. When I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And so Mary undoubtedly understood from that. He was coming back to work again. He was going to heaven. He was coming back. He was coming back to raise.
And the possibility is that she thought now when she saw him, he's come back. He's going to stay here in rain. He says, no, man. I haven't yet ascended. And the reason I know that is because it says he was with them forty days and forty nights. And he didn't take any time off to go to heaven and come back again. And so he was just straightening out Mary. She had possibly a little misunderstanding. She said, when she saw him that morning that now he'd come back to rain, no, Mary, I haven't left yet. But I'm going to leave. I've got to fulfill that scripture. God says, God, my son, sit at my right hand until I make thy bones thy footstool.
And so he corrected Mary on this assumption that he had to go to heaven and come back again before he redeemed himself to his own. No, no. Jesus Christ hadn't yet ascended when Mary met him. He was yet to go up, and he did. Forty days after his resurrection, and this, if you'll notice, was the day after, day of his resurrection that day. Forty days later is when he went up to heaven, and he took his place at his father's right hand. And the Bible says in this which struck me the other day in reading it in the Acts, whom the heavens must receive until the time of restitution of all.
Do you know when he went up from Mount Olivet, a cloud, lightly clouds of angels, received him out of their sight, those who stood gazing up into heaven. Heaven received him. And it says the heavens are going to receive him until the time comes when the Father will send them back down. And that day is not far off. This very same Jesus that ascended into heaven shall so come in like manner as his name goes. We're waiting for his return, for the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask you, are you ready for this coming?
I've only got halfway through my sermon, but I'm going to leave the rest for next week. I want to appeal to you who are not Christians. Why not come to Christ this morning? Can you tell me anything about the Lord Jesus Christ? Why you shouldn't accept him? Would he hurt you? Would he do you harm? Would he cause you sadness? No. He'll do you good. Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto thee. He'll be the best friend you ever have. Yes, and he'll be to you. Your elder brother, if you like, you use the expression, and he'll look upon you as his brethren.
His brethren. Wouldn't you like to be one of his friends, one of his sheep? Then use the language of Thomas, my Lord and my God. You haven't seen yet the anointed eye a risen glorified Christ at God's right hand. There were the wounds in his hands and feet in sight. They're there because on the cross he received those scars out of love to you a poor sinner and the blood that flowed from those wounds. With the blood of the crimson fluid that puts away all sin, sin to those who will accept it.
You will trust me. Will you trust him this morning? Will you say, Lord Jesus, I will trust thee. Trust thee with my soul. I am guilty. I am lost. I am helpless. But thou canst make me whole. Trust him now, shall we go. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come to thee. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. We thank thee for it. We rejoice for those and with those who have received our Savior. We pray for those who have not. May they come to him this morning. We ask you to be worthy and precious. Two hundred and twenty-six.
He is not ashamed to call us brethren. and we should not be ashamed to confess him publicly as our Lord. If you have trusted Christ, have we...