So with that in mind, let's look at these first eight verses. We're going to look at the first eight verses, John chapter 20. Look with me there, it says in verse 1, Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid him.
So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together. The other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn't go in.
And so Peter also came following him and 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 in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to lift your word this morning.
Lord, I just pray that you would help us to remove anything that would distract us, all the events of the day. Lord, I just pray for these few brief moments. You would calm our hearts and remove the distractions so that we could focus upon you and your word. And Lord, I pray that if there's any here watching online in this room, venue service, the Soto that doesn't know you today, I pray that you call them by name, and they'd have a personal encounter with you, and you would save them, and you would change them for your glory.
We pray it in Christ's name. Amen. So we see here that first Easter morning, Mary comes early in the morning, still dark out. She's the first to the tomb.
What's interesting is that the disciples are not there. The disciples are in shambles. The man that they have followed, the man that they had given their life to, the man in whom they had found all their hopes and dreams was dead, and it appeared that all hope was lost. It was a good run, but now it was over.
They had heard Jesus. Certainly they had heard Jesus talk about the resurrection, but none of those disciples are at the tomb on this first Easter morning. You know, there's people who believe that the disciples didn't really see the resurrected Christ. They were just so full of faith that they had these hallucinations and visions of the resurrected Christ.
Well, it's hard to argue at this moment that the disciples are full of faith. They're not full of faith. In fact, they're full of doubt and fear. They're not even at the tomb.
Mary comes first to the tomb. She's the first to see the resurrected Christ, and she will in fact be the first to proclaim the resurrected Christ. Now, this is interesting when you understand that in that culture, women could not even bear testimony in a court of law. Listen, if you're going to make up a resurrection story, you probably wouldn't make the leaders of Christianity, a bunch of cowards hold up in a room, and the big brave women being the ones first to the tomb.
It's a good reminder. This is not a fictional story. This is historical reality. In fact, it's God's story.
Don't you love it? And he puts Mary first. Mary's the first to who? Mary will be the first to proclaim the resurrected Christ.
Mary comes. She discovers that the stone is rolled away. Now, what is Mary's first reaction? Does Mary respond and say, Wow, he's risen, just like he said he would?
No, no, that's not her initial response. She assumes that robbers have come and stolen the body. In other words, Mary couldn't conceive of a resurrection. It didn't even enter her mind.
And she wasn't alone. Neither could the disciples. Listen, the disciples didn't make up a resurrection story. Again, they couldn't conceive of it.
They didn't anticipate this at all. So Mary, she sees the stone rolled away. She immediately goes to tell Peter and John. And Peter and John book it to the tomb.
Evidently, Peter was a bit more of a distance runner. John the sprinter. John gets there first. You see their personalities come out of the story.
John's a bit more hesitant. Doesn't go in. Just kind of looks in. Peter, what does Peter do?
He rushes right past. Goes directly into the tomb. And all the gospel writers make this clear. That the grave clothes were undisturbed.
That's the picture they paint. In fact, they want you to see this. In fact, all the gospel writers say something about this. That the grave clothes were undisturbed.
I think it's important because it lets us know that, number one, this was not a result of grave robbers. If somebody had come to steal the body, they wouldn't have probably taken the time to then go back and fold up the clothes and make sure they were lying undisturbed. It also lets us know that Jesus didn't tear off these grave clothes. He didn't need to be untied.
He didn't have to have help being unbound like Lazarus when he was raised from the dead. No, Jesus passed through those grave clothes into a new sphere of existence. Jesus conquered the grave and the tomb was empty. All the eyewitnesses leave us with the historical fact of an empty tomb.
And the only possible explanation is that Jesus rose from the dead. It's very difficult to object to the empty tomb. If there was a body in that tomb, if there was a body to be found, in fact, remember this, the resurrection was an embarrassment to the Roman authorities and the Jewish leadership. If there was a body, believe me, they would have presented it and it would have put down the resurrection story within five minutes.
So listen, if you're going to object to the empty tomb, you've got to believe in some form of miracle. You either have to believe in a psychological miracle, meaning the disciples, you have to say, well, maybe the disciples stole the body. Listen, do you really believe that these men, these disciples whose lives were radically changed by believing in a resurrected Christ would begin their ministry on the basis of a lie and then move forward and be willing to die a horrific martyr's death on the basis of that lie? That's ridiculous.
That's a psychological miracle. Or you have to believe in a biological miracle. There's some people out there say, well, Jesus didn't really die. It's the swoon theory.
He's kind of went to sleep a little bit and he was revived back later. Do you really believe that Jesus was crucified? It's the most horrific form of execution. You were scorers, you were beaten with a cat in high toes.
Probably before he ever got to the cross, his back was completely exposed, all the skin removed. He gives the cross, he's nailed to a cross, nailed to his hands at his feet, hung on the cross for six hours. And then he has to fool the Roman soldiers that he's actually dead. Roman soldier, nobody knew death better than a Roman soldier.
They bring him down to the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, they remove him from the cross. They wrap him in linen wrappings, which was the Jewish custom. Hundred pounds of spices, John's gospel tells us.
They put him inside of him. He's inside of him for three days. No food, no water, no medical assistance. And then suddenly he rallies back, removes the stone, does it without disturbing the Roman soldiers, mind you, and then presents himself as if he had never been hurt by the death of the cross.
That's what you call a biological miracle. Now, all these testimonies leave us with the only possible explanation, which is Jesus willingly laid down his life and died on the cross for our sins. And God raised him up again as a demonstration that he is who he said he was. And he could do what he said he could do.
But I understand, I realize there's a lot of skeptics in our world today. And that's probably not a bad thing. You need to be skeptical. Not everything you read is true.
There's a lot of fake news out there. And for that reason, I think it's very important that one of the hallmarks of John's gospel is the perspective of Thomas. Thomas is an honest skeptic. We admire his stubborn refusal to believe anything without evidence.
And so that's Sunday night, the first Sunday night worship service. Sunday night service, the disciples are gathered in the upper room and Jesus shows up. The resurrected Christ appears to the disciples in the upper room. They get a chance to see him.
He shows them the nail marks, the nail prints, side shows them. They're overwhelmed. They're ecstatic. They're incredibly excited.
They've seen the resurrected Christ. But there's one guy who wasn't there. Who wasn't there? Thomas.
Thomas wasn't there. And so after they've seen the resurrected Christ, they go to tell Thomas about it. They're going to tell Thomas, guess what? We've seen the resurrected Christ.
And they're probably expecting that Thomas is going to be thrilled. He's going to be excited just like them. But that's not exactly how Thomas responds. In fact, look with me further down in John 20.
It's going to be there on the screen. Verses 24 and 25. Look at the reaction of Thomas. It says, but Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples were saying to him, we've seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see his hands and the imprint of the nails and put my finger in the place of the nails and put my hand in the side, I will not believe. You know what Thomas says? Thomas says, you guys are seeing visions.
You're hallucinating. You've seen a ghost. I don't know what you've seen, but I ain't buying them. He says, you're gullible.
You guys are, you simpleton fishermen. You don't believe anything. But not me. I'm not that gullible.
I don't buy it. I need irrefutable evidence. I got to see the nail marks. I have to put my finger in, that's literally what it says, finger into the wound.
It's kind of gruesome when you think about it. I mean, imagine going to see one of your friends in the hospital and say, you know what? I think you're faking it. And I'm going to have to put my finger in the incision.
You know, if you're saying that, you're sicker than your friend. You got issues. But honestly, that's what Thomas asked for. He wants concrete data.
He wants scientific proof that can be verified. Otherwise, he says, I will not believe. You know, more often than not, you hear Thomas referred to as doubting Thomas. Thomas is not doubting.
Scripture never presents it that way. It's unbelieving. Doubting in the Greek means to be between two minds. If you're kind of on the fence, you're on one side or the other.
Thomas is not doubting. He is firm and deliberate in unbelief. He is in defiant unbelief. I will not believe.
But look what happens. Look further down in this narrative, down in verses 26 through 29. It says, 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.
And then he said to Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands. Reach here with your hand and put it into my side and do not be unbelieving but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. And Jesus said to him, because you've seen me, have you believed?
Blessed are they who did not see and yet believe. So Jesus appears again to the disciples and he confronts Thomas. He says, Thomas, heard about your litmus test. Come on, brother, here I am.
Heard about you on finger and see. Come on, here it is. Put your hand here. Powerful.
This is unbelievable because Jesus has no earthly way of knowing about Thomas' request except for the fact that he's God and he knows everything. But here's what I want you to see in this. Christianity does not shy away from skepticism or investigation. We call men and women to investigate.
Please investigate. I think a lot of people say, oh, those simple decrees don't believe anything. They believe blind faith. That is not true at all.
If you're a skeptic here today, you know what I tell you? Please investigate. Please read. Please study.
Please immerse yourself in the Gospels. Your eternal destination hangs in the balance. You better investigate. Publications, I will tell you.
The people who do not believe, it's not because they investigated Christianity and they read the scriptures and they found Christianity to be lacking. No, the fact is they've never investigated at all. Most of the people that I run into, I don't believe that. I ask them, have you ever read and they've never even read it.
Christianity welcomes investigation. We say, please study. But notice too, as you begin to investigate, don't be surprised to find out just like Thomas did that it's actually Jesus who's investigating you. We welcome investigation.
So Jesus presents himself here before Thomas and says, you want proof? Here's your proof. Touch and feel, Thomas. Go for it, brother.
Yes, I was crucified. Yes, I died. It's not subjective. It's not theoretical.
It's historical. If you and I had been there, we'd have seen Christ. We'd have heard Christ. We'd have touched Christ.
In fact, Paul in 1 Corinthians says that Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at one time. 500 people. Do you realize that 500 people just give five minutes of personal eyewitness testimony of the resurrected Christ? You have over 41 hours of continual eyewitness testimony of the resurrected Christ.
I think that'll stand up in a court of law. But listen to me. I want you to know this morning it's not just about the evidence. This book is not just another historical account to fill your head full of knowledge.
Look at what Jesus makes clear. John makes clear. Verses 30 through 31. Look at 30 and 31.
They're on the screen. If you want to see them. It says, Therefore, many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His name.
So John tells you right here. He's not writing this just to simply give you more historical information. He's writing and recording his personal testimony of the risen Christ that you too might believe and have life in His name. He's writing that you too might have a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ, the one who physically lived, physically died, physically placed in the tomb and rose from the dead with Thomas.
He gives a bit of a rebuke. In fact, look at verse 29. It says in verse 29, Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe.
Now, don't misunderstand Jesus' statement here. Jesus is not requesting faith without evidence. He's requesting faith without sight. Christian belief, biblical faith, is not faith without evidence.
That's what I think a lot of people are. You just, Christians don't believe anything. Biblical faith is not faith without evidence. It's faith without sight, meaning that I cannot physically produce the resurrected Christ for you this morning.
Christ could do that, but I can't pull into a bag of miracles who pull out the resurrected Christ for you this morning. Can't do that. But I can point you to the reasonable, credible, and personal testimony of these men recorded here in the New Testament. These men record their personal eyewitness testimony of the resurrected Christ so that you might believe in Jesus.
God recorded it in His Word. We believe His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And let me remind you, you believe a lot of historical things on the same basis.
Now, I look around this room and I'm pretty sure none of you met George Washington. Some of y'all are pretty old, but I don't think you're that old. You never met, but I'm also going to assume that most of you believe that George Washington of people who recorded it and we believe it on the basis of their Word. You and I believe that Christ has risen on the basis of historical reality of a man who lived and eyewitnesses who saw Him and believed in Him and they recorded for it that we too might have a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ.
The fact of the matter is what's even more compelling to me is the people, these people who gave their eyewitness testimony, all of them were radically changed. Any serious investigation of Christianity has to ask what caused these men, what caused these disciples to go from a group of cowards holed up in a room to 49 days later publicly proclaiming the risen Christ and being willing to die for that message. The only reasonable, compelling explanation is that they had a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ. Some of you are asking, Pastor, you may need to derive this up, but why is the resurrection so significant?
Is it really that important? Listen to me. Everything hangs on the resurrection of Christ. Everything hangs on the resurrection of Christ.
The resurrection of Christ confirms that Christ alone is able to save. There's no question about His death. Jesus died. He died, why?
For our sins. Jesus didn't die for His sins. The wages of sin is death. We die because we sin.
Why did Jesus die? Didn't die for His sins. Every person in the Gospel accounts, Pilate, the Roman centurion, all of them declared He's innocent. He was declared innocent seven times.
He's the perfect Lamb of God. So why does He die? If the wages of sin is death and Jesus dies, why does He die? He dies for you.
God telegraphs it. He tells us that Christ comes to die as a substitutionary sacrifice for your sins. The fact of the matter is everyone in this room is a sinner. You've all sinned against the Holy God.
And the Bible says it again, the wages of sin is death. What every one of us deserve is death and hell. And none of us on the basis of our sin could get to God on our own. God is perfectly holy.
Sin cannot abide in His presence. So how are you and I going to get to God? The answer is Jesus. We couldn't get to God.
How do I know that the death of Christ is sufficient? How do I know that Jesus can do what He said He could do? Do you know how we know? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
The Bible says He is confirmed with power to be the Son of God through the resurrection from the dead. Not only does the resurrection confirm that Jesus is able to save, but it also brings that same resurrection power to all those who believe in him. You see it in the gospel there. And moving on from here, and I always say this on Sundays, I hope and pray that I just give you a little taste of the word of God and you go study it on your own.
Because it is so deep. There's so much here. But you see it, the gospel, the resurrection power of Christ moving forward. Mary, Mary's a perfect stable.
Mary's in a place of complete hopelessness and despair. And then she'll be, she'll go forth in power. She'll have eternal hope. What changes?
What changes Mary? You know what changed Mary? She heard Jesus' voice. Jesus said to her, Mary.
She heard his voice and she had a personal encounter with the resurrection of Christ and she was changed forever. Thomas, look at that. Thomas is in a place of total unbelief. Some of you are there today.
Some of you, you're not happy about being here. You got drugged here by somebody else. You're, in fact, you're angry about it. I don't even want to hear this guy.
You're just like Thomas. You're irritated. You're frustrated. But Thomas went from unbelief to belief and he would go on and become a great evangelist and die a martyr's death for the gospel message.
What changed? I'll tell you what changed. He heard Jesus call his name. Thomas.
He had a personal encounter with the resurrection of Christ and he was changed forever. Read on forward. Peter was broken. He had denied Christ three times.
The weight of his sin was probably bearing down on him. He probably thought, I've sinned too much. I'll never be used by God. I don't even know if I can be forgiven.
And you move forward and you see Peter become the leader of the church. What changed? I'll tell you what changed. He had a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ and Jesus came to say, Peter, get over here.
And he encountered the resurrected Christ and he was changed forever. Do you know how the Bible describes salvation more often than not? To call. To call.
In fact, the church is called the Ecclesia, the called out ones. Meaning if you're here this morning, you know Jesus Christ is your personal Lord and Savior because at some point in your life, you heard Jesus call your name. The one who made you, knows you and came to die for you. At some point in your life, like me, the final night of a revival service in Clearview Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, I'll never forget.
Jesus called my name. And I just so happen to believe that Jesus is calling somebody's name in this room this morning for the very first time. You find yourself in a place of hopelessness and despair. You're discouraged.
You're depressed. You see no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel. And yet this morning, right here in this place on this Easter Sunday, Jesus is calling your name. Some of you have been in that place of unbelief.
I will not believe. But today, Jesus is calling your name. Some of you, you say, I've done too much. I've sinned too bad.
There's no way I could ever be forgiven or be used by God. And yet this morning, Jesus is calling your name. And here's the question. What is holding you back?
What's preventing you from falling down like Thomas and saying, my Lord and my God and trusting in Christ? And you know what we're going to do this morning in just a moment? We're going to give you an opportunity to do that. Today, right here, right now.
As crazy as it sounds, we're going to ask you to do something. Christ is calling your name. Christianity is personal, but it was never intended to be private. Christ calls you to go public.
And we're going to give you an opportunity to walk an aisle, to find a pastor in the balcony. If you're at vineyard service down front, the soda will be people there. We're going to ask you to step out. And I know what some of you are thinking.
You're saying, Pastor, it's Easter. We got ham, eggs to hunt. We got too much going on. That's why I preach short.
We got plenty of time. There's all kinds of time and we're not going to keep you that long. We're just going to ask you to come up here and pray with somebody. I'll ask you to get information so we can follow up and help you.
We're not going to make you do anything strange or crazy in front of a group. We just want to pray if you get some information. We'll send you right back to your family. Others of you, I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking, wait, I don't know these people. Big crowd. Are you kidding me? I'm worried about what people might think about me.
Listen to me today. Who cares? This is between you and God. One day you are going to stand before God.
What is your excuse going to be? Well, I was afraid of what people might think about me. Listen, Jesus said, if you'll confess me before men, I'll confess you before my Father in heaven. If you deny me before men, I'll deny you before my Father in heaven.
Don't tell me you love Jesus, but then also tell me you don't want to let anybody know. Some of you are saying, well, Pastor, can't I do this later? Well, you could, but here's what I know far too often. You'll walk out this room, you'll get busy with life, and you'll completely forget about it.
And I also know this. The author of Hebrews, you know what he says? Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Here's what I believe will happen.
You keep putting Christ off. If he's calling on your heart today, don't presume upon him that he'll be calling you tomorrow. And if you keep putting him off, listen, the reality is your heart will get so callous. It's not that Christ will quit calling, but your heart will become so hard you're no longer to be able to hear.
Here's what I'm asking you to do today. Why put it off? What would prevent you from today making the decision to trust in Christ so that you have a personal account with the resurrected Christ and your life will be forever changed? So here's what we're going to do.
We're going to pray together. I'm going to ask every head bow to every eye closed. We're going to have a moment of prayer. I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to ask you to come.
Let's just pray right now. Lord, we come before you today, and I just thank you for the grace that you've demonstrated in Christ. I think every person in this room, the deepest longing in their heart is to know that somebody loves them. Loves them unconditionally.
The message of Christianity is somebody really big loves them. That God loves them. He said he loved them so much he sent his son to die on a cross for their sins. God, you know everything about them.
You know every sin they committed, and you love them. And you desire a relationship with them. And I believe with all my heart there's some people in this room watching online right now, DeSoto venue. You're calling their name.
They hear you calling their name in their heart right now, asking them to respond and trust in you. And yet I know we have an enemy, and he's putting all kinds of lies in their head right now, all kinds of reasons why they shouldn't do this, why they shouldn't respond. Lord, I pray that you drown out the lies of Satan. You'd overwhelm them, so overwhelmed them with your love and your grace that they couldn't help but respond this morning right now.
God, don't let Satan hold them back for the greatest decision they'll ever make. They make the greatest Easter they've ever known to trust in you. So Lord, I'm praying that you would do what only you can do, that you would draw them. You would give them the faith.
You'd give them the courage. You'd give them the boldness to step out right now as we give them that opportunity. Lord, work and move for your glory. And we pray it in Christ's name.
Amen.