Speaker 1: What happens when I die? But maybe that's not the best question you could ask. What happens if you never actually live? Jesus didn't just come to take you to heaven later. He came to give you eternal life now.
Speaker 2: Hello, friends. Welcome to the Life Tabernacle Church podcast. It's an honor to be with you today. This podcast serves as our church's weekly sermon archive. Tune in each week to hear what God is speaking in our community.
Be sure to follow and share with a friend. We hope you enjoy today's message. Good morning. If you guys would, turn with me to John chapter 20, and we're gonna read verses one through 10. And if you don't have your Bibles, they'll be on the screen.
This is the word of the lord. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon, Peter, and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved and said, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have put him. So Peter and the other disciples started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus's head. The cloth was still lying there in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside.
He saw and believed. They still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Speaker 1: This is the word of the Lord. Amen? Amen. Happy resurrection Sunday. Happy Easter to you.
I don't know about you. I'm looking forward to the ham and all the sides later today. It's gonna be good. But before we go eat with our families, we're going to eat right here in god's word. Amen?
And so, we've been in this series called the death of for about six weeks now and today, we're going to put a exclamation point on this series as we dig into John chapter 20. My friends, it's quite the curious thing of what we're doing this morning. I hope you realize how odd this is. I mean, we're here celebrating the life of someone who lived around two thousand years ago. You can't ask me who the president was forty years ago.
I couldn't tell you. Right? You couldn't tell me who won the Super Bowl six years ago. I don't have that memorized. But for some reason, we're celebrating the life of one man who lived two thousand years ago.
He was a lowly Jewish rabbi from Israel. He never had an army, never had a political office, wasn't wealthy, wasn't attractive, didn't have a social media platform, yet his name has never been forgotten. What's his name? Jesus of Nazareth. He's a man who claimed to be God in the flesh.
He performed miracles. He preached with authority. Was brutally executed. And then three days later, he came out of his own grave? Sounds like a fairy tale, but no.
It's not. It's the greatest story ever told. Jesus is certainly the most interesting person to have ever lived, and whoever lives, he's still alive. Praise god. And today, we get to gather under that name.
We get to declare as the church has done for thousands of years. He is risen. He is risen. He is risen. Come on.
Have you ever stopped though to consider what makes this day so important? Again, apart from the egg hunts and the bunnies and the cute pictures and the family dinners that we are going to have, what makes this day so significant? Why does it matter? The apostle Paul says in first Corinthians chapter 13 15 that if Jesus did not raise from the dead, if he didn't have a physical, bodily resurrection, then all of this is a waste of time. He says, if Jesus didn't really come out of the grave, then Christians are the greatest fools to have ever lived.
That we should be pitied among all people. People should feel sorry for us. But if he did raise from the dead, if he did come out of those grave clothes, if it really did happen on that Easter Sunday thousands of years ago, then everything changes. Because Christianity does not hinge on wishful thinking, it hinges on the tomb being empty. If the tomb isn't empty, it's all a shame.
But my friends, I hear I'm here to testify to you today if you've never heard it before. The tomb is empty. In the moment we just read in John chapter 20, doesn't just prove that Jesus is alive. It demands a response from us. Easter demands a response.
It's not just something we oh, I celebrate a Easter. It demands you change the way you are living if it is true. Because if Jesus really walked out of the grave, then none of us get to stay the same. In our teaching text today, we see a lady named Mary Magdalene. Other than the 12 disciples, I would say Mary Magdalene is the most devoted of all the disciples.
And as my mom said this morning, she gets to be the one who testifies and be the first evangelist in human history to testify to the risen lord. A woman. Women weren't respected in the day, Yet this woman gets to be the first one to the tomb. And when Mary gets to the tomb, she had gotten there early in the morning. This is why we sometimes have sunrise services.
And perhaps she was going there to weep. Jesus was her lord. She was Jesus was her rabbi. Jesus was her friend. And she misses her friend.
And she is going to the tomb to weep. To perhaps better prepare his body for burial. And when she gets there, Gloria, when she gets there, the stone that was in front of the grave had been rolled away. And she's thinking this is odd because in another gospel, her and the other ladies are saying, hey, when we get there, who's gonna roll the stone away for us? Right?
This would be the equivalent to going to the cemetery to visit one of your loved ones who has passed away and their gravestones tossed to the side, The dirt is dug up and the caskets open. You would think, what in the world's going on here? This is odd. And that's her response. She's like, this is weird.
It should be closed, but it's open. And at this, she doesn't ask any questions, she does something. Simi, you ready? I need your help now. Alright.
Simi, come over here. Come on. You don't want to? Can you help me? Come on.
Thank you so much. You're gonna be married this morning. Alright? There we go. We'll keep it gender appropriate.
How about that? Alright. Can you be married? Thank you so much. Here in a minute, you're gonna go tell Peter and John something.
Okay? Stay right here. Alright. Peter and John, are you ready? Come on, Peter and John.
Let's go. Now, Peter and John are over here. Come on, guys. You look really sharp this morning by the way. So cute.
Alright. So y'all are over here. Peter and John and the disciples are over here in Jerusalem somewhere. They're scared. They're behind locked doors.
Jesus, their rabbi, their savior had just been killed. They're afraid the same thing's gonna happen to them and they're just minding their business on this Easter morning. And Mary's over here and she has just gotten to the tomb and she says to herself, I gotta go back and tell them. I gotta go tell them now. So she runs over there.
You do track. Right? She runs over there. She runs. She gets there and she says, guys, guys, listen, listen.
We don't know where they put his body. It's not there. And at this Peter and John run to the tomb. Run. And John outruns Peter.
And they get to the tomb and they're over here. And and John gets there and he just stops at the tomb and looks. He just looks in. But Peter, as Peter would do, if this is Peter today, Peter just bust straight in. Go in there.
He just bust in there. He doesn't care. He just what is back there? Basketball goals? Alright.
Come on out. Come on. Come on out. Are you still hiding? Good job Peter.
Go take a seat. Thank you so much. Hey, give it up for our little friends this morning. Thanks so much. Thank you.
And Peter just bust into the tomb as he would. And John follows him in there. And when they get in there, they're expecting to find a odd smell. There's been a dead body in there. And all they see is some clothes.
Just some grave clothes on the ground. And they're thinking to them to themselves, what is going on here? And everybody see you should have some grave clothes with you today. I know it looks like toilet paper so forgive me. Okay?
But these are grave clothes. Everybody get your grave clothes in your hands. It's just grave clothes. And if you think about this, if someone had stolen his body, they would have either taken the clothes with them or they would have done what your kids do with their clothes. They just would have tossed them to the side.
Right? That's what my kids do. And that's what I do sometimes too. I ain't gonna lie. Right?
But what they find is an organized scene. It's like an organized crime scene. It's like it's almost intentional. And what they find there very specifically in John 27, look at this. It says in the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but folded up in a place like it's it'd be like this.
Nicely folded. All folded up. Like someone intentionally folded it. Like you would fold laundry and you do it the right way. Right?
It's folded up in its place to the side. It's not crumpled up. It's not in a mess. I don't know about you all, but I love going to really nice restaurants. I'm bougie.
I'm not gonna lie to you. Okay? Love eating a nice steak at a good nice restaurant. And when you go to a nice restaurant, you always almost always get a nice cloth napkin. And here's some etiquette that you need to know when you go to a nice restaurant.
You know, you're gonna get there, you're gonna unfold your napkin, you're gonna place it on your lap. And if you were done with your meal, you would do one or two things. You would either crumple it up and put it on the plate. That's kind of rude. So don't do that.
Or you would kind of disorganize disorganize kind of fashion. You would kind of set it to the side of your plate. And that would indicate to the waiter that, hey, I'm done with my meal. Nothing else to do here. But if you were at a nice restaurant and you needed to step out to take a phone call or to use the restroom or something, you would fold your napkin up nicely and you would place it in your seat.
That would indicate to the waiter or the waitress that, hey, I'm not done here. I'm coming back. Right? And in a very similar fashion, when Peter and John find this folded face cloth, It's like a sudden subtle hint from Jesus. It is finished, but I'm just getting started.
And what's crazy is this, when John sees this, this is what it says, John 28. It says, he saw and believed. John goes in, the disciple who Jesus loved, and he just simply says, he saw and believed. Now some of you all here are skeptics. Some of you all here are probably the type of people that like to ask a 100 questions before you do something or before you believe something.
Right? You wanna ask questions. You wanna be sure. Jesus wasn't there to ask a question at this moment, yet John is able to just look at the folded face cloth and he says, he saw and believed. My friends, in the gospel of John, as we've looked at the past six weeks, this is what the gospel of John is all about.
The idea of believing is core to his gospel. He writes this in John twenty thirty one. This is kinda like the thesis statement of the whole book of John. In John twenty thirty one, it says this, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. This is John's aim.
This is John's whole goal of the whole gospel. It is to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that by believing in his name, you might have life. In the most famous verse in the Bible, it's not only life. It's not only life, it's what? Eternal life.
John three sixteen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that who shall ever believeth in him shall not perish but have what? Eternal life. This is what John wants us to get a hold of. But here's the thing. This word believe doesn't mean to just acknowledge something.
Right? It means to trust. Look at your neighbor and say trust. Okay? To entrust.
To put your weight on something. This would be like this. If we were gonna go on a road trip together. Let's say Connie, we're gonna go on a road trip together. Okay?
Me, you, my mom, we're going to Amish country. We're gonna go buy a bunch of stuff. Sound good? And we're on a road trip. You're driving and your gaslight pops on and I say, Connie, don't worry about it.
Okay? We can make it another 200 miles. It will make it. I promise. Are you gonna trust my word?
Not a chance. You're gonna pull over at the at the nearest, hopefully, Buc ee's, if you've ever been to Buc ee's, we're gonna go to Buc ee's. You're gonna pull over the nearest gas station and we're gonna get gas because you don't trust my word. You don't believe me. Right?
Or if I told you all this morning that I had three Easter eggs in my pocket that had money in them, none of you would probably come up here and try to get them. Right? I mean if I told you there was three Easter eggs in my pocket that had several dollars in them, most of you all wouldn't even come up here to look because you don't believe me. Are you wanting to get up? Are you wanting to come look?
Come see. Come seek. Yes. Come see. Come see.
You might believe. What if what if in my pocket there was three Easter eggs with $5 in them each? Would you believe me? Wow. Why?
Did you see him do something?
Speaker 2: Of
Speaker 1: course. You better give that to him. There you go. Good job, mom. I'll pay you later.
Okay? It's funny. You save that money for later, Sam. Okay? Most of you all didn't believe me because you didn't respond.
You didn't trust my word. Yet there was $15 in my pocket just waiting for you, But you wouldn't come see and believe. So well done to those who believe the word and responded to the word. That's the point. And that's what John's trying to communicate to you.
He's saying that everything I've just written in this book is reliable and true. Now you need to trust it. You need to put your weight on it. You need to bet your whole life on that Jesus really is who he says he is. Not just passively acknowledging, oh, I I know Jesus.
There's gonna lot of be a lot of people later in life when they meet Jesus say, hey, I know you. And Jesus said, no, I didn't know you. We must trust in Jesus. That is John's whole point. It's not just believing about Jesus.
It's not just acknowledging that Jesus exists, my friends. Even the demons do that. Even the demons can acknowledge Jesus. But rather he wants us to entrust our lives to the person and work of Jesus Christ. But here's the thing, friends, that I gotta get into your heads this morning.
Listen clearly. This kind of belief, this kind of trust is going to cost you something. It's gonna cost you everything, Matt. Like I said a few weeks ago, following Jesus is a horrible hobby because it's not a hobby. You either give your whole life to it or you don't.
And the reason why Jesus' death in this empty tomb and these grave clothes matters because something went terribly wrong from the beginning. In the beginning, in the very beginning in the bible, it tells us the story of when God created this beautiful perfect world where he set humanity over over the whole world to be like a garden for us to tend. We're gardeners and we're supposed to enjoy the whole world. And what was in the Garden of Eden was supposed to expand across the whole sphere. And things were good for a little bit.
And then one day as my daughter calls him, the sneaky snake, the serpent, the devil, the Satan. He slithers up. He whispers a half truth, which is a lie, into Eve's ear. And that day, Adam and Eve take from the fruit of the tree and they eat. Even though God explicitly told them, don't do it because the day you do it, you'll surely die.
And on that day, everything changes. Sin enters into humanity. And then the rest of the story goes horribly sideways. And ever since that moment, since those first human sin, every single one of us here has followed the same path. We've all said, I'm gonna do life my own way, the way I think it's right, the way I seem that it is wise in my own eyes.
And what's the result of when we try to do life our own way without God? Sin, Brokenness, pain, death, injustice, murder, racism, you name it. It happens because of what happened in the garden. And everywhere you look, see these things. And the world is the way it is, is because we've all sinned and rejected God and tried to become God ourselves.
And the problem isn't just out there with those people. It's right in here, in you and me. Romans three twenty three says this, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And what's the consequence of sin, my friends? Death.
Romans six twenty three says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we feel it. Don't we? Death was never supposed to be a part of the story, but we've all seen its horrible effects through the death of a parent, the death of a child, the death of a loved one, the death of a dream, the death of something in our lives. We've all experienced death, and we all know deep down it was not supposed to be this way.
Something's off. Something's fishy about death because it didn't belong in the story. We're alright. It wasn't supposed to be a part of the story, yet it is. Look at your neighbor and say, but God.
Anytime there's a but in the bible, a b u t, k, a but in the bible, you should pay attention and get real excited. Read this with me. Ephesians chapter two verses four and five. It says, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved.
But God, even when we were sinners dead in our sins, rejecting God, not wanting anything to do with God, God crawled up on that cross to bear our sins so that we might accept the grace that he so offers us. But God. And because of what he's done, because of what Jesus has accomplished, because he was perfect and holy, because there was no one like him, we don't have to die as we ought to. We don't have to experience what most of the world experiences. I love how second Timothy one ten says it.
He says, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus who has destroyed death and has brought life in immortality to light through the gospel, which simply means he has paid the penalty for our sins, brother Kenny. He has defeated death, hell, and the devil, and he offers us abundant life in him. He offers us now what is called eternal life, life everlasting. And we get to do that forever with God together. My friends, I love parties.
Sometimes you go to a good party, you don't want it to end. That's what we get with Jesus. We get to be with him and his people forever. Eternal death is overthrown, and eternal life is here. Many people ask the question, what happens when I die?
Have you ever asked that question? It's a question all of us think about time to time. What happens when I die? But maybe that's not the best question you could ask. What happens if you never actually live?
Jesus didn't just come to take you to heaven later. He came to give you eternal life now. The kingdom of God's called the now but not yet kingdom. We know Jesus was returning soon. And when he returns and makes all things right, it's gonna be beautiful.
It's gonna be glorious, and I cannot wait for that day. Aim yes. Thank you. But the kingdom's already available to us in part now. We don't just have to wait till later to get eternal life.
We can experience it here and now. Heaven and hell are realities. We must accept that. We have life to experience right now. He's inviting you and me to what is called the with God life.
Life that is full of forgiveness and healing and purpose and community and joy and peace and love and power. It's everything your soul's actually looking for. Deep down, this is what you really, really want underneath the surface of it all. But again, if you want the with God life now, it's going to cost you something. It cost Jesus everything to pay for our sins.
It's gonna cost us something to respond to that. Matthew sixteen twenty four and twenty six says this, and Keaton, if you can come on up, please. Matthew sixteen twenty four and twenty six. It says, then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Let's pause there for a moment.
Let's go back one verse, sister Anna. Right there. Yep. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross. Now we quote this verse and you might even buy it at Hobby Lobby on something.
You put it on the wall. Right? K? But do you understand what Jesus is saying? Remember, let's take a step back into the shoes of people two thousand years ago.
Jesus says, who is disciples? If you are not willing to take up your cross, this is not a metaphor. This is not a metaphorical cross. These people knew what a cross was. They have seen people crucified outside the city all the time.
And Jesus is saying, if you're not willing to take that up and follow me right now, you're not even worthy to be my disciple. Those are heavy words. That's costly. It's gonna cost you something. Jesus continues and says, whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? Jesus invites us to die so that we can live. It's a paradox. This is the invitation. This is the cause.
This is series, the death of me. I have to die to myself so that I may live with him forever. And I can't promise you that it will be easy or that it will make sense. But what I can promise you is is that when I can promise you this, you're gonna come out of these on the other side. You're gonna come out of your grave clothes on the other side.
And I unfortunately don't have those grave clothes that were in that tomb thousands of years ago, but I can show you mine this morning. You see, I actually grew up in this church. Many of you all know that, some of you might not know. I grew up in this church. I came to know the Lord in this church.
Other other than the the the first church I remember being at was a small Baptist church in Salem, and then someone invited our family here. And I we started coming out six or seven years old. And I grew up here and I knew the Lord and and and and I appreciate my childhood, but I remember a distinct moment, sister Dreama. When I was in high school and I began to feel the tug of whether I wanted to follow Jesus and believe what he says is the way to life or if I wanna follow the world and what the world says brings life. And I had this inner tension in my high school years for years.
I would come to youth group, be a rambunctious little student, but I was active in the youth group. Right, Chris? But I would go to school and I would act different. I was a nice guy, but behind the scenes, I was sinning. I was stuck in habitual sin that I couldn't get out of.
I wanted to do my own thing. I thought, you know what? I'm gonna go play college football, and I'm gonna go get a business degree, and I'm gonna get rich, and it's gonna be so fun. That's gonna be my way of life. Even though deep down, I knew there was something else for me.
But I didn't want to die yet. I didn't want to experience the death of me yet. I didn't want to take my grave clothes off yet. Then I remember after I graduated high school, I had a college I was gonna play for, and then everything began to change one day. I was actually in class, and I stood up one day and I felt something break in my hip.
Something just popped. I go to the doctor and I found out I literally broke my hip, had tore something. And so that dream of college football went out the window very quickly. I was dating a young girl at the time, and I thought, oh, I'm gonna marry this girl. And then I get a phone call that says, we're done.
What? And just a week previous, I had had this hip surgery, And I'm doped up on all this pain medication that I began to get addicted to because I'm like, this stuff makes me feel good. And all of a sudden, I begin to spiral very quickly. And for the first time in life, I experienced what is known as depression. The deep, dark cloud of depression sat on me.
And for the next three or four months, I began to ask myself the hard question, would life be better if I wasn't here? And every time I'd go out for a drive in my dad's truck, I would always spot the biggest tree, and I would think to myself, if I just I just ran it off the road into that tree, no one would know. No one would know. It would look like a mistake, but it would be me escaping the pain. And then a few months later, for some reason, I was asked to speak at a church camp in California.
And I remember even being there still having this pull that I don't know if I wanna live for Jesus or not. And I remember come up here, Ivy. I remember I was preaching and I was still sitting behind the scenes. No one knew it. But after I got done preaching that night, there's kids about this age there, about a 100 kids, and they were all laid out on the floor, worshiping the lord, crying out to god.
God moved so powerfully, and all these little ones were just crying out to him. And I remember the Lord inviting me in that moment. He's like, Dallas, you've known me your whole life, but today, you choose if you want to serve me or not. It's your choice. You can either die to yourself today or you can try to save your life and see what happens.
The next day, I got on the phone and I signed up to go to bible college. And as they say, the rest is history. I've experienced deliverance of all those habitual sins. I watched depression lead my life, and all of a sudden, flooded into my heart. And I was transformed in those years.
These are my grave clothes. And I show them to you today that this is not some metaphor. I have grave clothes, but I don't wear them anymore. I keep them as a reminder of where I've been. And because of what Jesus has accomplished, I too came running out of that grave on that day.
And so as we wrap this up today, as we go to spend time with our family and friends, I need to ask you a question, all of you. Are you ready for the death of yourself? Are you ready for the death of me? There's two groups of people in there here this morning. There's some of you all here that have never taken your grave clothes off.
You're still in the tomb and you're still dead in your sins. You're still dead in your trespasses. And right now, in some weird way, you can feel your heart beating really hard and you can hear and feel the holy spirit speaking to you saying, it's time to come out of the grave today. And Roman says, if you declare with with your mouth that Jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Salvation is not about you being good.
It's not about doing things to atone for your sins. It's not even about making the world a better place. Salvation is about believing that Christ came and did this for you and then rose again from the grave. And so there might be someone or some people here today. It's time for you to come out of the grave.
And here in a moment, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to acknowledge that before men and women here today. I'm gonna invite you to come up and pray. That's the first group of people. You are dead. You've never come to know Jesus.
And you feel him tugging at your heart. I don't wanna make this an emotional thing either. You're not ready, don't do it yet. The cost of discipleship is gonna cost you everything. But if you're ready, it's time to take the grave clothes off today.
But there's also a second group of you all today. And some of you all here have come out of that grave. You all know and remember that day when you were saved. You thank God for it. But some of you all have these still hanging off of you.
Some of you are are still carrying around past hurt from decades ago. Some of you are carrying trauma around from years ago. Some of you are still carrying around sin. And it's time to let it go. Jesus didn't die so that we can keep on sinning.
Jesus died so that we can stop sinning and live the life he has for us.