A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Easter 2025 -
John, chapter 20,. How about that? John, chapter 20. John, chapter 20. John, chapter 20, verse 1. And I'm going to go back to that first Resurrection Sunday so many years ago. John 20, verse 1. So all of the Gospels, of course, matthew, mark, luke and John they all include the cross. There's no getting around that. You've got to have the cross and you've got to have the resurrection. And we'll be in John this morning to see what he has to say about it, a guy who was actually there. Let's read in verse 1.
Speaker 1:Now, the first day of the week, mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then 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 do not know where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together and, by the way, the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first and he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there. Yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloths lying there and the handkerchief that had been around Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first, by the way, went in also and he saw and believed, went in also, and he saw and believed For as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.
Speaker 1:Well, here we are, that first day of the week we see in verse one, which is Sunday, and a lot of running is going on in this story. Right, mary goes to the tomb early in the morning to really with this desire to finish the embalming of Jesus. She had no expectation of any of this happening and when she gets there the stone is rolled away. Now you can look at the other gospels and see little details here and there of how that went down. But she runs back and gets Peter and John. Now, john here is the one who writes this gospel down and he calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. That's sweet, right. He also throws in there. By the way, in this running, I got to the tomb first. Right, he mentions it twice. Is it bragging, or is it just that he's remembering in great detail that day? I think maybe the latter, but the first one's funny too, because we're all human. But John lets us know in verse eight that as he looked into the tomb and he saw everything folded up just right, jesus straightens his bed, so to speak, after he gets up, and there John looks in and he believed. So John lets us know that in his experience this was the first point that he understood a little bit of what had happened. Now he didn't understand everything right, because we're told later on that the disciples didn't get this idea that he would rise again. But in some way John looks at this and he has faith. That's where it all just kind of triggered. Now this is the first we could say Easter Sunday, first Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker 1:But how did we get here? How did we get here? Well, let's rewind for a second and go back to the beginning. Everybody take their remotes out. I thought about that. I've always done that because I think it's funny.
Speaker 1:But there are people in here who have no idea what that means Because they've never seen like a videocassette recorder or anything like that, that sound. Anyway, we're rewinding and we're going back, we're going back to the beginning. And you know, you're just going and going and there it goes back, and you just go in and go in and there it goes back and you see the kings, you see the prophets, you see Abraham, and you come to the garden and we're still rewinding and we go back until there's nothing. Right, we went too far, maybe? Right, there's nothing but just darkness, it seems. And God.
Speaker 1:Genesis 1.1 says in the beginning God. So if we go past that and we go back further, we find, as far as we know, nothing but eternal God, just fine with himself, and there he is. Well, what is he doing? We don't exactly know, but we do know he had a plan. And to understand what was going on before time began we have to go to the end of the book.
Speaker 1:Revelation 13, verse 8 gives us a little snapshot of what was going on before God created the heavens and the earth. John refers to Jesus in Revelation 13, verse 8, as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So check it out. In the mind of God, the cross was already a plan before creation ever happened. It was his determination to save the world and to love us and to lay down his life for us. Well, if we let the thing play out a little bit right In the book of Genesis, you guys know, god creates the heavens and the earth.
Speaker 1:He creates man, he creates woman, he puts them in this wonderful paradise and by chapter three they've thrown it all away. Right by chapter three, sin enters the world and death enters the world with sin and everything just takes a nosedive. And man needs to be saved. We all do. And yet God has a plan. In chapter three, god has a plan to crush the serpent's head. I like that. He has a plan to undo what was done in sin and he lets them know I'm going to send a savior. Now check it out.
Speaker 1:As we let the Bible play out from beginning to this point, we see that God, just from time to time, he would let people know, he would remind people through the prophets, through the Psalms all around. I'm not gonna leave things the way they are. I'm sending a savior, and that was God's plan and God's intention. Well, finally we get to Christmas. Right, christmas is back in December. December is when we celebrate it, but you remember the fact God becomes flesh and dwells among us, that Jesus is born God in flesh, a human baby, but God eternal. And there his name is given Jesus. Now, check it out. Jesus means God is salvation. So all of this is a plan, even into his very name, that God would save us. Well, jesus is born, he lives, he grows up and he ministers. That's what we've been studying in the Gospel of Mark. And he ministers that's what we've been studying in the Gospel of Mark. He ministers and he loves people and he teaches the truth and he shows the world what the Father is like. And then, finally, he comes to the cross, the very day it was intended to be.
Speaker 1:Jesus comes to the cross and we looked at that on Friday there and Jesus takes upon himself the sin of the world. Now we talked about this. He died for us, a sacrifice. He took our sin upon himself, all the stuff that we deserve. He became the perfect lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And you remember how important that is in the sacrifices right, that they would take a lamb, a perfect lamb, and you would then now listen, you would then put your hand on that lamb animal, that lamb. You would confess your sins I've messed up, I've had a bad attitude, I've done my own thing and then that lamb would be killed and you go. Why? Why would that lamb have to die? Because sin separates us from God and there's no other way to get rid of sin than judgment, righteous judgment. And Jesus takes that righteous judgment upon himself at the cross.
Speaker 1:Now let's turn to Galatians, chapter 2. You don't have to hold your place here in John. Galatians, chapter 2. We see how these things of the cross and the resurrection play together. Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20. Important passage Galatians 2, 20.
Speaker 1:Paul says I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So Paul wasn't there at the cross. He wasn't there when Jesus died on the cross but, like us, in a spiritual sense, he came to that cross and he saw Jesus dying as a sacrifice. He in a sense, like we talked about, put his hand on Jesus and said my sin is upon him and Jesus became a sacrifice for Paul's sin. But Paul says it like this. He says I've been crucified with Christ. Check it out. When Jesus died on the cross, it's as if Paul was there in Christ, dying for his own sin, but Jesus took his place Important, and that's what happened at the cross. We identify with Jesus on the cross. He took our place. That's huge. Now check it out.
Speaker 1:If the story stopped there, what if Jesus just died, man? Wouldn't that be wonderful, that Jesus would die as a sacrifice for our sins? He died on the cross, but what if he didn't rise again? What if that was the end of the story we go? What a loving teacher, what a wonderful person. What a sad thing that he would die. Honestly, if Jesus didn't rise again, we wouldn't be here today. We, we wouldn't be here today. We absolutely wouldn't be here today. Nobody would talk about the things he'd said. Nobody would talk about the things he did. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, he would have been a false prophet. As good of a thing as dying on the cross for us would have been. He would have been a false prophet because Jesus said all throughout his ministry I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, but in three days I'm gonna rise again. And if he didn't rise again, he would have been a liar and there would have been nothing else for us to look at. But we know what happened. Three days later he rose again to the disciples' surprise.
Speaker 1:Notice again what Galatians 2.20 says I have been crucified with Christ.
Speaker 1:It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So we're crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live my life ends at the cross but Christ lives in me. And notice he says no longer I who live, my life ends at the cross, but Christ lives in me. And notice he says the life I now live. There's life after the cross in what Paul says here, that Christ lives in me and I live with Christ. There's a resurrection, there's resurrection. There's resurrection, a life after death, and that's the completion of the story. We're given life because he rose. We have new life in him.
Speaker 1:I just want to finish our time looking at what that means, that we have life. What kind of life do we have in Jesus? Number one it's a living life. That does not sound very profound. I realize that it's a living life, right, that seems kind of redundant to say that, but the Bible lets us know that even when we're living we can be spiritually dead, right? Ephesians, chapter two, that we were dead in our trespasses and sin. We were dead kind of like a zombie, right, I don't know? Walking dead. Right that we live, but it's not real life.
Speaker 1:Check out what Jesus said in John 10, 10. He said I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly. So Jesus says it's totally possible to be living but yet be absolutely dead spiritually and dead to what real life is. And we've all felt it. Right. That's why a person can have everything that you could imagine everything in money, experience, relationships and still be absolutely empty because there's no life. But Jesus gives us a living life, an abundant life. That's good to know, good to write down. It's not just a living life, but it's a new life, right, and Paul ties it to baptism in Romans, chapter 6. Let me read it to you Romans, chapter 6, verse 3.
Speaker 1:Talking about baptism, what's it all about? Do you not know that, as many of us that were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, also we should walk in newness of life. So maybe you've seen people get baptized, maybe you've been baptized, Maybe you want to get baptized as it warms up. We could totally do that if there's any that want to get baptized. But here's what happens. Right, I used to love it bringing up camp again. Right, I used to love it.
Speaker 1:One of my favorite things the end of summer camp we would have a time of baptism and we'd just open it up If one of the kids you know God, had done something in your heart and you want to come forward and get baptized. And they'd come down to the water and my question will always be this is like spoiler alert here my question will always be why do you want to get baptized? What's going on? And I would get down, you know, pretending I'm a little junior, higher or something. I'd get down and I'd look and I'd say why do you want to get baptized? And they'd say, well, because you know God's just done great things for me and I want to live my life for him. And I go. That's amazing. So then we would go through this process of baptism and in that nothing magical happens, but you go under the water and I would tell them.
Speaker 1:You go under the water. It symbolizes that you died with Christ, died to who you were, but then I will lift you out of the water. That's something you learn at college, I think, is make sure you bring them up out of the water, because it's just not a real good idea to leave them under the water. Right? You bring them up out of the water, so you go under the waters relating to Jesus' death, you go out of the water relating to his resurrection and you come out with a new life. It symbolizes the new life that we have in Christ, and it's such a wonderful thought, right? Because at the cross, he takes our sin, but he also takes who we were right.
Speaker 1:We can look back at our lives and go who we were before. God got a hold of us, and you know, we're still sinners, of course, but we look back and we go. You know what, though, and this is the way it should look in your life? I'm not the person I used to be, right? My mouth is different, my mind is different, my heart is different, and you go. I'm not the person I used to be, and you come up out of the water and you come up in a new life, and that's what God wants to give us. The old man who we were, the old woman I guess you could say is dead and it's a new life in Christ. That's good news for those of us that struggle with our past. Who we were, what we did, it's gone and a new life comes up out of these things. It's a new life, it's a living life, it's a righteous life right Now. We hinted at this.
Speaker 1:This is a crazy transfer that happens at the cross. He takes our sin. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says he takes our sin and he gives us his righteousness. Now, hopefully, after you come to God, hopefully after you accept salvation, your life has changed. You turn from your sin. You have this conviction over sin. The things you used to do you don't want to do anymore. But you're still going to be a sinner because we've got this thing called flesh. You're still going to mess up. But here's the wonderful thing this new life that we have is a righteous life.
Speaker 1:When God looks at us, from then on, he doesn't see us, he sees his son. He sees Jesus, perfect lamb of God. He sees his son. He sees Jesus, perfect lamb of God, never did a thing wrong, only loved. And he puts it on us, that righteousness. We stand in it like a robe, like clothes, right, and we're clothed in his righteousness so that when God looks at us, he only sees perfection. I thought about this a couple of days ago. Isn't it wonderful that when God looks at us, he only sees perfection? I thought about this a couple of days ago. Isn't it wonderful that when God looks at us, he smiles, not because of us, not because we did it perfectly, but he smiles because he sees Jesus if we're in him, every time, every point of our life, every day. He's not frustrated with us. He only sees Jesus if you're in Christ. And so it's not just a living life, it's not just a new life, it's a righteous life, and that's really something that Paul brought home to.
Speaker 1:He said in Philippians to live is Christ, to die is gain. If I live my life, it's Jesus to the world right. Philippians 3, verse 9,. He says I want to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And it's amazing that point. But the last thing I want to point out before we go is that it's an eternal life. Last thing I want to point out before we go is that it's an eternal life and that we see so clearly as Jesus died on the cross.
Speaker 1:Three days later he rose again. Now Lazarus is a guy that had an interesting story, right Remember. Lazarus got sick and Jesus hung out for like a few days and Lazarus died. And like four days later, jesus came to the tomb there where Lazarus was and Jesus hung out for like a few days and Lazarus died. And like four days later, jesus came to the tomb there where Lazarus was and he told them to take the stone away from the tomb and he goes. He says Lazarus, come forth, and Lazarus comes back to life.
Speaker 1:Now the bummer of that like I think Lazarus was fine if they would have just left him there the bummer with that is that Lazarus had to die again as a human being. He was rose from the dead at one point by Jesus, but he had to die again. Jesus rose from the dead and will never die again. Once and for all, he died and raised to newness of life eternal life. He'll never die again. Once and for all, he died and raised to newness of life, eternal life. He'll never die again. And we look at that and we realize that that's the pattern of our life then too, and one day we will all die, but it won't be the same kind of death that someone without Christ experiences. It'll have a lot more hope involved in it.
Speaker 1:Here's what Paul says. If you can track with this, here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is a great encouraging passage to read as it concerns death and heaven and eternity. You should take some time in it. But Paul, talking about death, says this verse 55, 1555. Oh death. I love this. Oh death. He's talking to death. Where is your sting, oh Hades? Where is your victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:So here Paul, he's talking about death and he trash talks it. He says death, what you got, you don't have anything anymore, do you? Now? I don't want to die. I'm not like looking forward to it necessarily, but I don't have to be scared of it, because Jesus defeated death on the cross. He came back to life and he just put the flag down and said no more death. We've defeated it.
Speaker 1:Victory and the resurrection shows us that truth, that life for the believer is eternal. You may stop breathing but you'll never die in heaven. You'll be with God in true life, forever. And check it out. Sometimes I think we think those are just nice words you say at funerals. But for the believer, this is the most real thing that you could experience. Eternal life, the most real thing you could experience, is not just nice words, it's the reality. We don't have to be afraid of it because of what Jesus did, and he proved it by coming back to life.
Speaker 1:So we find ourselves considering this wonderful life that we have, this resurrection life of Jesus, but we consider that the only way to get there is through the cross. Right, it's first coming to the sacrifice, and considering that we consider it just like those sacrifices of old where they would take a lamb and they'd put their hand on it. They'd have this kind of relationship with that animal where we say my sin transferred to you. And we do the same with Jesus at the cross, so important. We look at him on the cross dying for our sin and we say my sin transferred to you. Kind of put our hand on him and we make that transfer. But then we realize your life given to me, a living life and a new life, and a righteous life and an eternal life.
Speaker 1:There's just so much to be grateful for this theology and we try to figure out what salvation is all about and what eternity and new life is all about. But what you really want is for us to experience it, god, to absolutely, even right now in our hearts, come to you and say God, I messed up, I'm separated by my sin, and yet you paid the price for my sin. God, I want that and I accept that as a gift. God, then, to just receive that wonderful life. God, I thank you that it is a new life. Look at where I've been, how imperfect I am, god, I can see that it's you, it's your righteousness, and it's brand new, a new start. God, I just pray that these things wouldn't be just ideas in our head as believers, but they would be real in our life. God, that you would take these things and work them into our lives, that we would know you more.