Chapter 20 Verse 1

• So we are on the third day after the Jews Preparation Day, or Friday, which we saw at the end of last week in Chapter 19 Verse 42.  So Friday being the first day, Saturday being the second day…we are now to Sunday, or the third day which is the first day of the Jewish week.
• And Mary is up early.  Now you find some interesting additional details in the other Gospels that John doesn’t necessarily give us here but just so we have the complete picture…
• Mary was not alone.  According to Mark’s gospel, Chapter 16, Mary was traveling that morning with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Salome and then Luke adds that Joanna, the mother of James (not Jesus’ brother who was the son of Mary), was also with them.  So we have a group of four ladies, up early…on their way to the tomb.  But why?
• Well Mark tells us that they were bringing spices that they might come and anoint Him.  Most likely Jesus’ body had not been properly prepared…or at least thoroughly prepared for burial as the Jews were in a hurry to get Him squared away in the tomb due to it being a High Holy Day of Preparation during the Passover when Jesus had been crucified.
• And so Mark continues and tells us that the women, as they walked, said among themselves, “who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”
• So here we have four women all agreeing that together, even as a team, they don’t have a chance at budging that boulder…but notice…they’re on their way! 
• I love that!  Man, there are boulders set throughout our lives aren’t there?  There’s no way my marriage can be fixed, we’re too far gone!  There’s no way I can get out of debt…there’s no way I can endure another day or another month or another this or that…there’s no way God would accept me…I’m too dirty man…not true. 
• These women knew that the stone would be there separating them from Jesus but they went anyway!  So should we!  Think for a moment, accept for a moment…trust for a moment that it is GOD’s job to remove the stone…not ours!  We are to walk by faith so put on your faith shox and let’s bounce!
• How!?  Ugh!?  I need practical!  SO DO I!  Do you know what faith applied looks like?  The Word of God!  That is what faith applied is.  Learn what the Lord says, study His ways, get trained up in the truth and then resolve to do it!  That is to place your trust in Him and when you do…boulders roll man!
• Some lady heard Jesus teach and watched Him perform miracles once and she stood and shouted, “blessed is yo momma!”  For real, go look in Luke Chapter 11 Verse 27!  But Jesus replied, “More than that!  Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”
• And that is exactly what they find here, great blessing…God’s faithfulness in front of their eyes…as John tells us that they saw the stone had been taken away! 
• You think its there!  You expect it to be there!  But you go anyway JUST to see what God will do!  You obey anyway just to see what God will do.  You deny your sight for the sake of the scripture just to see what God will do and I’m telling you…when you get there…you’ll see the strength and the faithfulness of God!
• Now before we move on, one simple question I have for you.  Who raised Jesus from the dead?  God?  Jesus Himself?  The Holy Spirit?  If you answered any of those then you know what?  You’re right!  The Holy and Eternal and Mysterious Trinity…the Godhead Three in One is expressed explicitly in the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
• What are you talking about Matt…
• Look, so cool!  God raised Jesus from the dead!  Acts Chapter 13 Verses 29 and 30 say, “Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.  But God raised Him from the dead.” 
• Let’s continue!  The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead!  Romans Chapter 8 Verses 10 and 11 say, “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
• Let’s complete the picture!  Jesus raised Himself from the dead!  John 2:19 Jesus said, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up!” And in John Chapter 10 verses 17 and 18 Jesus said, “My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again!”
• And so how is it that Jesus raised Himself, yet God raised Him, yet the Holy Spirit raised Him?  Because indeed they are all One God!  Just a cool testimony of the Trinity in the resurrection that I wanted to show to you!

Chapter 20 Verses 2 – 7

• So Mary bolts back to the disciples, obviously excited as we read in other gospel accounts that the women actually witnessed the rock being rolled away by heavenly forces, and she comes to Peter and John…now that’s not it…she no doubt went to others but it appears here that Peter and John were together which is not surprising and John really doesn’t know anything more…why?  Because he took off!
• He and Peter ran out together and I love how John just throws in here that he outran Peter…but not by much because as John is sizing up the scene, here comes Peter and impulsive as we have seen him before, Peter just goes right in. 
• And all he sees there in the tomb are the grave cloths and the handkerchief that had been wrapped around the head of Jesus.  But notice, Peter sees something that John deems important.  He sees that the head cloth is not lying with the others, but it is folded and off to the side by itself. 
• At first pass, we may just move on but with a little bit of study, something amazing is being communicated here.  First the grammatical construction in the Greek here indicates that the linen cloths were lying in a circular form as though a body were still in them…just collapsed.  (refutes the shroud of Turin)
• And the headkerchief folded off to the side by itself is significant.  In the Jewish culture, at a meal if one were to rise from the table and place their napkin cloth on the table in a disorderly fashion, that would signal to the host or to the servants that they were finished. 
• But if one were to rise and neatly fold their napkin cloth and place it on the table, no matter if they leave for a minute or an hour, their meal would remain there on the table.  Why?  Because that action meant…I’m not finished!  I’m coming back!
• And so as Peter saw this, no doubt he stared at this!  No doubt his mind went to the many prophecies given of Isaac and Jonah and even Jesus…that He’s not done!  Isaac came off that mountain.  Jonah got barfed!!  He rose!  And He’s coming back!  The grave conquered is just the beginning…not the end!
• You may feel today that the grave that your life has become is the end…no its not!  It’s the beginning!  God is not through with you yet!  God will see you through it to greater days, glorious days…if you yourself don’t throw in the towel!  (Now you know where we get that saying from don’t you!?)  Stick with Him!  Trust in Him!  If you’ve been a knucklehead this past week this past year this past decade then today is the day of salvation the Bible says!
• Do you know it says that?  2 Corinthians 6:2.  Today, not tomorrow, not when you get it all figured out…TODAY!  Every day God deposits 86,400 moments into your life.  86,400 opportunities for you to choose Him, sow to the spirit and affect your tomorrow for the purpose of peace and love and grace and purpose! 
• But so many return those moments decayed and wasted at the end of each day…cut it out!  If your life isn’t getting any better then wake up and smell the java baby!  There’s something not right with YOUR walk!  Not theirs!
• The Bible says that the promises of God are “yes and amen.”  2 Corinthians 1:20.  And the Word of God, the precepts of truth say that “those who obey His ways and seek Him with all their hearts are chock full of JOY!”  Psalm 119:2! 
• So if you’re telling me today that you can’t get right cause she ain’t right then man you are so busted!  I pray that you see!  Your joy, your walk, your progress, your growing has nothing to do with him or her or them or they…it has everything to do with are you willing and ready to obey!? 
• Today is the day of salvation!  This moment in your 86,400 that you have this day…this one right here…because just as He rose from the grave…He left His handerchief neatly folded to tell you and tell me, “I’m coming back!  Will I find you faithful…or pitiful?”  Man…Lord that we would have ears to hear!
• Ears to hear?  Man, I can’t get nothing from you Matt.  I can’t follow you…I don’t even understand.  Listen, you’re hearing the Word of God aren’t you?  And the Bible says that it doesn’t go forth void…it will accomplish its purpose.  There’s something that you can get I know, and listen, if you would just apply one thing that you learn each week…one point…one precept that you learn each week in church then in a year you would have resolved to apply 50 truths of God in your life!
• Man, talk about on fire…but you gotta be here, now, resolving that today is the day of salvation!

Chapter 20 Verse 8

• Is John saying here that before this point…he didn’t believe in Jesus?  Not at all.  There is something very interesting, very practical in the Greek construct here.  Check this out…
• You find the English word “saw” in verses 5, 6 and 8.  In verse 5 John came to the tomb and “saw” the linen clothes lying there.  That word in the Greek is “blepo” which literally means “to look at or see visibly.”
• In verse 6, Peter “saw” the linen cloths lying there.  That is a different word in the Greek.  It’s “theoreo” which literally means, “to study carefully.”  This is where we get our word theory from as we glimpse a deeper meaning and come up with a theory…
• Then finally here in verse 8, the word translated “saw” is “eido,” from which we get our word “idea” or you could say “I get it!”
• And so the pattern.  First, something is seen…surface level…perceived yet not completely understood.  Then, further consideration leads to formulated conclusions…possibilities as to what it really is or means.  Then, finally a full understanding. 
• John is telling us here that it was at this moment that it clicked for him.  What this all meant.  The empty tomb, the linen cloths lying there…
• And I find this interesting because most of the time our faith progresses according to this pattern.  First, you’re exposed to some piece of information.  Some nugget during a Bible study such as this one.  Then, down the road maybe you hear the same thought on the radio or someone says something that prompts you to give the idea a bit more of your own thought equity.
• Then, finally there comes a moment when you really get it.  It clicks.  It’s no longer just a concept theologically, but it becomes part of your life personally. 
• I see it as tens or hundreds or thousands of locks wrapped around folks…interlocking chains together.  Biblical truth comes in…and that truth is a key.  A key that fits a lock.  And the person may or may not even take the key.  But some do.  But no click.  Then something happens…the opportunity to exercise faith…and when that Biblical truth is selected in place of emotional impulse or historical habit…that key is placed into a lock and click…chains fall…
• That is something that cannot be taught.  That is something that requires faith folks.  And faith finds freedom!
• Now have you ever tried a key and it didn’t work?  What’s next?  You toss it out don’t you?  I fear for those that hear the Word and hear the Word and hear the Word and deny it’s application…because once that same familiar key is labeled “trash”…man it’s tough to find the faith and the humility to give it another shot…your heart hardens to it…
• And if you never hear the information in the first place then you’ll never be able to embrace it…apply it to the point of it “clicking.”  So keep in the Word!  “But I’m not getting much out of it,” you might say.  Wait!  You will.  Eventually it will begin to stir something in your thinking and finally it will become part of your being.
• Read your Bible.  Stay in the scriptures…and apply the Word and you will see this process unfold in your moments even as it did for Peter and John in this moment.

Chapter 20 Verse 9

• Ah so you see…the entire scenario just clicked for John.  “That’s what He meant!  This is what He was talking about!” 

Chapter 20 Verse 10

• And so they went home…with new keys…I wonder today, as you return to your homes…what you will do with the keys that you have been given by God this morning.  As His Word has gone forth…as His truth has been presented.
• Will your chains shatter?  Or will they remain?  It’s your choice.  God has done all that is required for your absolute freedom and joy…will you choose Him?  Much is at stake…