This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions and our look together at
John chapter 20. This is the chapter of the resurrection. Last week we talked
together about the cross of Christ and what he gave for us.

And this week we get to see his new life for us. This is a chapter that's
brimming with life. You want to know about the resurrection life?

You ask a resurrected person. And in this chapter, this chapter of new life and
new hope, you see Mary, you see Thomas, you see Peter, they're all coming to
deal with the truth that Jesus is alive and what that means in their everyday
life. And for you and I, as we walk through this chapter this week, my prayer is
that we'll see how these truths fit into our everyday lives.

Mary, for instance, we're going to see went in a moment from a frightening,
confused woman to a faith-filled and confident woman. What made the difference?
As we begin John chapter 20, we're beginning a chapter that begins with the
greatest question mark in history and ends with the greatest exclamation point
in all of history.

But it's a chapter that's very personal. It's the personal stories of how
people's lives were changed. And because of that, it's the story of how our
lives can be changed.

Listen to what happened in the life of Mary Magdalene, John 20, verses one and
two. 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 whom Jesus
loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb "and we don't know
where they put him.

" John chapter 20, verse one. Three important details at the beginning of this
chapter that's filled with details. Early it says, the last of the four watches,
three a.

m. to six a. m.

Because the day before had been a Sabbath day, the women were not able to come
to the tomb to see and to deal with the body of Jesus. And so they came as early
as they could on this next day, early on the first day of the week. This is
Sunday, this is why we worship on Sunday.

The Bible tells us that it doesn't matter what day you worship on. But the
reason we worship on Sunday is to celebrate the resurrection. Every Sunday is a
celebration of the resurrection.

And then the Bible says this detail, the stone was removed. This was not some
small stone that you could pick up and toss. This was a stone that weighed tons
that stood in front of that tomb.

And the picture here is not that it had slowly creaked open. The picture here
and in other places in the Gospels is that this huge stone was flicked aside by
the power of God. And it was put aside not so that Jesus could get out.

It was put aside so that we could see in and see what had happened. You see,
Jesus could walk through walls. He could get to places we're going to find out
throughout the rest of this chapter any way that he wanted to.

But God wanted to make sure that people could see in to see the truth of what
would happen. And so Mary saw in. And the first response, it's the first
response that many of us have to the resurrection.

Our first response to this truth of the resurrection is usually not hope.
Because it is such a life-changing, life-transforming truth. More often than
not, the first response we have is the same response as Mary.

It's a response of confusion and doubt and fear. Mary's confused, the disciples
are afraid. Thomas, we're going to see later in this chapter, is filled with doubt.

Mary's first thought is not the thought of a resurrection. Her first thought is
the thought of grave robbers. Somebody has come and taken the body of Jesus from
the tomb.

These words that Mary spoke, they have taken the Lord away. It is clear that her
first thought was not joy. It was that something was terribly wrong.

If your first experience with the resurrection of Christ and the fact that he
can change your life is to feel a little bit of fear of what that might mean. A
little bit of doubt about how that might work out. Or even confusion of how this
big of truth could fit into your life.

You stand with all the early followers, all the followers of Jesus Christ. That
is often the response to this incredible, huge truth of new life. But God has a
way of getting through to us.

He had a way of getting through to Mary. In John 20, verses three to nine,
here's what happened. Mary had gone and told the disciples in verse three, "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 he looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but he
did not go in. And then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into
the tomb.

He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had
been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the
linen. Finally, the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went
inside.

He saw and believed. They still do not understand from scripture that Jesus had
to rise from the dead. You see, as I read through these stories, personal
stories in John chapter 20, I hear the question in my life, how do I see the
resurrection as a part of my everyday life?

Mary didn't see it at first. Peter didn't get it at first. It took John some
time to understand it.

How do I see this as a part of my everyday life? As we walk through this
chapter, we're going to look at three specific things you and I need to see the
resurrection. We need evidence for our minds.

We need answers for our heart. And we need a relationship for our soul. First
thing we need is we need evidence for our minds.

This account was written 50 years later, but as you read through this chapter,
you see many details of what happened. Who ran? Who got there first?

A cloth that was folded and was separate from the linen. Why all the detail in
this chapter? Because this chapter is the careful recounting of this moment in
history by an eyewitness, someone who was there and saw it.

And the Bible says that as the disciples, Peter and John, ran to the tomb, they
stopped and they looked into the tomb. There's three different words that are
used for seeing in this passage. In verse five, there's the word to glance or to
look into this tomb.

In verse six, there's a word that's in the Greek meaning to be carefully
observing something, the Greek tharao, that I carefully observe what had
happened. And in verse eight, when the Bible talks about I saw and believe, John
says, there's this idea of perceiving with intelligent comprehension. You see
how people are seeing better and better what the resurrection means.

There's three ways of looking at the same thing. You can glance at it, you can
gaze at it, or you can get it. Those are those three words.

First they glanced into the tomb, then they gazed into the tomb, and then John
here, he gets it, he gets it. We need evidence for our minds many times to get
it. Some people think that faith means you somehow stop thinking.

That is not true. It is true that you cannot come to faith by human reason
alone. It's impossible.

But once you've come, and even as you come, you're going to find that faith makes
sense and that God uses your mind, he uses your reason to get some of the
barriers out of the way. There are a number of evidences for the resurrection of
Christ. There's the historical record that we read all through history.

There's the change that happened in the life of the disciples. How do they go
from depressed disciples to world changers if it weren't for something
happening? There's the silence of the enemies.

There's the changed lives today. But the greatest evidence of all for the
resurrection is in this recounting of the Bible itself, this eyewitness account.
This is exactly what happened and how John's life was changed.

John, the writer of this book, was actually the first to believe in the
resurrection. He's the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now, some of you have been
writing me about this as we've gone through the Gospel of John, saying it
bothers me that John calls himself that.

It sounds prideful. No, it's actually a humble statement. What he's saying is
Jesus loves all the disciples, but I don't even want to mention my name as one
of the disciples because the most important thing about me, John is saying, is
Jesus' love for me.

Now, I don't want to say that he's totally humble because he does note in these
verses that he outran Peter. He got there first to the tomb and he looked in.
And then Peter looked in.

And then John walked in along with Peter. And in that moment, John believed. You
see, for John, the grave clothes were enough.

The empty tomb was enough. That's the evidence that he needed to recognize that
what Jesus had been talking about was indeed true. He was resurrected from the
dead.

What if Christianity had stopped here with an empty tomb and no more? What if it
had stopped here and that's all we had to believe? You see, Jesus does appear to
some people in his resurrected body.

We're going to see that. Even if it had stopped here, there is enough to
believe. John had enough to believe on in that moment.

He had the evidence he needed. Jesus is going to give us even more evidence as
we walk through the rest of this chapter. As you and I talk about the
resurrection of Christ this week and how it can become real in our everyday
lives, I want to begin this week's look at the resurrection with some time
talking to Jesus.

And as you talk to him today, as you pray, would you pray this simple prayer?
Jesus Christ, make the resurrection real to me. I know that it really happened
in history, but make it real to me.

More real than it's ever been before. Real in the way that I live my life. Real
in the way that I see the circumstances of my life.

Real in the way that I run my relationships. Real in the way that I relate to
you. Jesus Christ, I know the resurrection is real.

Help me to see it as real in an everyday way. Not just know it's real, but to
see and to live the reality of your new life. Jesus, I need your strength to
help me do that.

And I ask for it, in your name, amen. Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to be
talking together about a second thing that is crucial to our seeing the truth of
the resurrection in our day-to-day lives.