Death Defeated!

Father, we all come here in all sorts of different states of mind and heart.

Maybe some of us pretty excited and pumped, some of us depressed,

some of us here maybe against our will, wishing we were somewhere else.

But Father, we're all together, and we know that only you can bring your word

home to our heart with grace and power.

And so, Father, we ask for that.

We ask that the Holy Spirit would bring your word to our heart,

to the depth of who we are, that secret place at the center of whom we are,

that you would bring your word to our heart and just bring the gospel to us.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

I'm not a particularly brave guy when it comes to physical things.

But about, I don't know, maybe I was trying to figure out exactly how many years ago,

but it doesn't matter. Let's say it was eight years or ten years ago,

and we lived in our previous house.

It was on my day off on a Wednesday afternoon.

And Louise and I were in the house, and all of a sudden, our neighbor,

whom we'll just call Sue, because I almost said her name, but we'll just call her Sue.

As you know, if you come here, I call all women Sue and all guys Bob,

just to keep things simple.

And anyway, Sue comes knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell,

very, very concerned and very distraught,

because as she pulled up with her car into the driveway,

she could see that her front door was open a bit.

And the reason she was so distraught is that the kids were still at school

and her husband was out of town, like out of the country.

And we all know this, if you come home and your door is open,

no good thing can be involved with that.

No good thing can be involved when you come to your house and the door is open.

So she came and rang our doorbell, and she wanted me to go in the house with her.

Now, as I said, I'm not a particularly brave guy.

I haven't thrown a punch since I was in grade 8, and that did not go well with me.

I did not come out the better of that encounter.

But, you know, it's one of those things, I felt like saying,

why don't we just sit outside, we're better still in our house with the door closed

while the police come.

But she wanted to go in the house and clear the house.

And I had to man up.

So I got an aluminum baseball bat.

What would you do?

I got an aluminum baseball bat, and I went to the door, and I yelled,

we're coming in, because I don't want to actually see them.

I want them out of the house if they're still there.

But you had that sense when you opened the door that there's probably nobody in the house.

So you push the door open.

I yelled that we're coming in.

And, you know, don't mean any harm, which is an odd thing to say when you're carrying an aluminum baseball bat.

But that was for my protection, not to actually do anything with it.

And then I went and cleared the house.

And, of course, there's nobody in the house.

And she'd had some jewelry stolen.

And she closed the door.

She waited for the police.

And she was very grateful.

I share that story because it helps us to understand something which many people have puzzled over in this first account,

this early account of the resurrection of Jesus.

So if you get your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 20,

John 20 · chapter mention

you'll see how this story helps us to understand something that goes on in the gospel text.

And it's John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

And for those of you who don't have Bibles, as you can see, the words will be on the screen.

But there's something about having your own Bible, by the way, and maybe being able to make notes as you follow along.

And just before I start reading the Bible text, just to sort of clarify something which is really important for us to understand.

And that's this.

I mean, it looks sort of funny now because it's in a, you know, I have a fancy Bible.

It used to have a bit of goldish stuff at the edge and all that, which is now gone.

But really, what we're looking at right now is literally, literally,

it's one of the four ancient biographies of Jesus.

A biography written by an eyewitness and also bearing eyewitness testimony.

He used other eyewitnesses and written at a time when many, many, many eyewitnesses were still alive

who could have put their hands up and said, John, you got that all wrong.

That didn't happen or that didn't happen.

Lots of people could have disagreed or contradicted, wrote their own books.

And these are one of four ancient biographies.

And they're written, John's Gospel in particular, I don't, I forgot to ask somebody who takes Greek,

but it used to be when I was trying to learn Greek, the Greek in John is so simple you begin with John.

That's where you begin reading John because it's so simple.

It's written a very simple, direct, not flashy style.

And it's an ancient biography that goes back to eyewitnesses.

In fact, you might be interested to know that it, in fact, has unparalleled continuous manuscript evidence

from the ancient world until today.

So you can be very, very convinced that what you're reading is what this ancient eyewitness wrote

in the form of a biography.

And what's just happened before we read this, if you went back and back or listened online,

is that in very simple language just before this, John records Jesus' death.

And one of the things we looked at last week is the way the text emphasizes time and time and time again

that Jesus died, Jesus died, Jesus died, his body, and the handling of the body.

And the very significant thing that the guarantor of the death of Jesus was Roman soldiers.

It wasn't Jesus' disciples who said, took him down from the cross very, very quickly and hurried him away

and said, by the way, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead, just leave him alone.

No, no, no, the soldiers guaranteed that he was dead.

And ancient historians record that there's only one known case.

There were, I don't know, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of crucifixions.

Only one recorded time that somebody did not die as a result of crucifixion,

apart from what's going on right here.

And by the way, in this story, he does die, right?

That's what the story is telling.

So there's only one person in all of history recorded who did not die as a result of crucifixion.

And now the story continues.

Now on the first day of the week, that's what we would now call Sunday,

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark

and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

That's the point of my story that I began with, right?

In those days, the custom was that they'd hollow out, make something like a cave where there was limestone,

a small hole and a bigger inner chamber with different things.

And to cover it up so that animals wouldn't go in and people wouldn't steal the bodies,

they'd roll a very heavy stone in front of it.

And Mary knew that there had been a very large stone in front of it and there'd been Roman soldiers.

And she comes early in the morning.

She'd been held up because of the Sabbath of being able to do more for the body.

And she probably was thinking something like,

I can't imagine the state two men would leave a body in.

It's probably terribly wrapped and they didn't apply the spices the right way and all of that stuff.

And so she's there.

And as soon as she comes up,

she doesn't have to go inside the tomb to know that something bad has happened.

Why?

Because when you come home and your door is open,

something bad has happened.

Okay?

And you don't know,

she didn't have an aluminum baseball bat.

That's why she didn't go in.

I don't know.

But you don't go in.

So what she does,

well, we find out what she does.

Verse 2.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple,

the one whom Jesus loved,

and said to them,

they have taken the Lord out of the tomb

and we do not know where they have laid him.

By the way,

that little word we is part of how you can see

that all of the different accounts of the resurrection morning,

how they balance.

Mary had been there not just alone,

but with other women.

But she's the one who goes to Peter and John,

probably two reasons.

One, because Peter's a little bit of a leader.

And second,

Mary,

the mother of Jesus,

is with John.

And so she wants to go and tell the people

that have Mary with her

that this has happened,

that something terrible has happened to the body of Jesus.

And so she goes and she finds Peter and John,

and then we see what happens.

Verse 3.

So Peter went out with the other disciple.

And by the way,

it's almost everybody agrees that John,

the apostle,

is the writer of this.

And he's very,

he writes this in a way that's for two reasons.

He never refers to himself.

He refers to himself as the other disciple,

and probably for two reasons.

One is a self-effacing way,

and also to try to make himself just another guy.

He's no different than Dave or Ann or Dick or Don or me.

We're just a disciple whom Jesus loved.

He's just a disciple whom Jesus loved.

And that's how he describes himself.

I'm just a disciple that Jesus loved.

And so back to the text.

So Peter,

verse 3,

went out with the other disciple,

and they were going toward the tomb.

Both of them were running together,

but the other disciple outran Peter.

That's John,

outran Peter,

and reached the tomb first.

And stooping to look in,

he saw the linen cloths lying there,

but he did not go in.

Then Simon Peter came following him,

and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen cloths lying there,

and the face cloth,

which had been on Jesus' head,

not lying with the linen cloths,

but folded up in a place by itself.

And just sort of pause here.

This is all very, very, very significant,

what's happened.

It's very, very significant.

You see,

what we saw last week,

or if you go back and read John 19,

you'll see that a very, very wealthy man

who's been a secret disciple of Jesus

comes and asks for the body of Jesus,

and he takes another man

who up until then had been a secret disciple of Jesus

by the name of Nicodemus,

and these two very wealthy men,

they do something.

They buy 75 pounds of spices.

That's enough to bury 100 people.

What they're doing is

they want to profoundly honor Jesus,

and they take the linen cloths,

they take this mixture,

but the thing about the mixture is

the mixture is very, very sticky.

It would be like taking a whole pile of spices,

mixing it with honey,

putting honey on the cloth,

and then wrapping Jesus up

in several layers of the cloths

with this honey and spice.

Very, very sticky.

You can just well imagine.

And so nobody who's going to steal the body,

there's two types of people

who would have stolen the body.

I guess there could have been

some people who wanted to do some mischief,

maybe play a trick on the disciples

to make them think that Jesus had risen from the dead,

or maybe the religious authorities

or the secular authorities

wanted to make sure

that nobody could do anything

to try to steal the body

and claim that Jesus had risen,

although there already was a Roman guard

out in front.

Or it could have been,

which is the more common thing,

which it could have been grave robbers,

because all of that aromatic spice

would have been worth a lot of money.

And I know it sounds unbelievably gross

that somebody would steal a dead body,

scrape everything off,

all the expensive spices,

put it in a jar and resell it.

Yuck.

But they did things like that.

Okay?

And so they did things like that.

And so the thing that you could see, though,

is that it's going to be an unbelievable mess.

Nobody would have done it right there.

They would have just grabbed the body,

all nicely wrapped up,

easy to carry,

I mean, relatively easy to carry,

taken it somewhere else,

and then at their leisure,

either, you know,

just scraped off the spices and the linen

and dealt with it

and then just disposed of the body

somewhere else.

But what they saw was that it was tidy.

The cloths were there,

and it was tidy.

There would have been a separate,

like a handkerchief

that went over Jesus' face

to sort of,

as sort of a way of,

you know,

it's just like we do,

and you want to honour,

you know,

when somebody has died,

you pull the blanket over their head,

and you could well see that

while you might do all sorts of stuff

to deal with the body,

you want to handle the head,

the face,

in a different type of way.

And so there's a napkin.

Still would have had some of the honey and all on it,

but,

or not honey,

the myrrh and aloes,

but it's sticky like honey.

And that, though,

is not just sort of crumpled up

the way a thief would do it

and thrown in the corner.

It's folded.

It's neat.

And the grave is empty.

And it doesn't make any sense

unless there's been a resurrection.

And that's what we see very,

right next.

And remember,

remember when I say that

this is an eyewitness biography.

This is an eyewitness biography.

You can go and do a little bit of research

around all of the battle around this,

and let me tell you,

there have been some of the smartest people

in the world

over the last 150 to 200 years

to try to discount

that this is

an ancient biography of Jesus.

And I can tell you

they don't succeed very well.

You can go do the research yourself.

They don't succeed very well.

It ultimately comes down to a basic,

I'm going to say it,

well, I'll talk about it a little bit more

in a moment,

what it comes down to.

But what happens next,

so it's verse 8.

Then the other disciple

who had reached the tomb first

also went in

and he saw

and he believed.

This next sentence

is a bit hard to translate

into English.

For as yet,

they did not understand

the scripture

that he must rise from the dead.

And basically,

what they're saying is this,

is that John,

and it's not entirely clear

because of the grammar

about what's going on with Peter,

but basically,

John realizes

that a resurrection happened.

He doesn't really have

the proper categories

to think about it

because the Bible

hasn't come home to him

and Jesus hasn't

appeared to him

and the way Jesus

is going to open

the scriptures

to help him understand

what's just happened.

But John goes,

he sees the stone

is rolled away,

the soldiers are gone,

and nobody would leave

the grave clothes

like that.

And even if they were

still left there,

they'd be sticky,

like they'd be filled

with debris.

You can just imagine

trying to remove

something like honey

in a dusty cave

and then trying to even

put it back in the rocks

would be filthy.

It just doesn't fit.

He believes.

He just believes.

And then verse 10,

then the disciples

went back to their homes.

And I, for a long time,

I've been thinking about this

a lot over the years,

of course.

The reason they went back

to their homes

is they don't want

to still be there

because they're thinking

to themselves,

the Romans are going

to come back

at some point in time,

the temple police

are going to come back

at some point in time,

and if they see me here

with no body,

I'm in trouble.

And as well as that,

what can they do?

The body's not there.

Jesus is gone.

So they go home.

Makes a special sense

if you remember

that Mary was probably

back to where they went.

They wanted to go

and tell the mother of Jesus

about what had happened.

So just sort of,

you know,

pause here for a second.

If the story

just ended here,

it would just be a mystery.

like a locked room mystery.

I love reading lock,

I love reading mysteries,

I love reading thrillers,

and I like locked room mysteries.

You know,

they're very,

they're fun to read.

I find them fun to read.

It would just be

a locked room mystery.

What on earth

happened to the body?

It would be just lots of,

yeah,

it would just be odd.

But here's,

um,

remember I said that,

um,

for almost 200 years,

a lot of people

with very,

very high IQs

and lots of degrees

after their names

and who speak

lots of languages

have done a concerted effort

to try to undermine

that this is,

in fact,

an ancient eyewitness biography.

And, um,

and at the end of the day,

what it comes down to,

and I hope I'm not offending

anybody here

who believes all those things,

but it comes down

to a basic prejudice.

They don't want to look

at evidence,

they just hold

at a deep level of faith,

at a profound level of faith,

that there is no God

and because there is no God

and because I believe in science

and because there is no God,

then therefore,

this cannot possibly

be an ancient biography

because it involves

something like a resurrection.

It's not that they look

at the evidence,

but that their prejudice

overwhelms

their ability

to actually look

at the evidence.

And one of the things here,

sorry,

a bit of a time out,

time out,

a bit of mercy,

geek moment,

okay,

geek moment for certain geeks.

Nothing in a,

no miracle

and nothing in this story

contradicts science.

Science,

here's the geek moment,

science to operate

has to work

with something called

methodological naturalism.

And what that means

is that science says

we're not going to look

at prayer and angels

and spirits,

all we're going to look

at what the natural processes are

that allow us

to explain things.

It's called

methodological naturalism

and it's central

to science being developed.

But many scientists

go from methodological naturalism

and a Christian

can be engaged

with that as well.

In fact,

that's what you want.

If you go to one of the scientists

here in the room,

it was an engineer

or something

and you want to know

why your DVD

isn't working

or why something's

not working,

you don't want them

to say,

well,

a demon

is invaded

your mechanism.

You want them

to say,

no,

no,

no,

it can't be a demon,

it has to be

something else,

okay?

Find what it is,

it must be a loose wire

or something's broken.

So we want our scientists

to use methodological naturalism

but what happens

is people,

scientists think

that somehow

or another

methodological naturalism

implies philosophical naturalism

which it does not.

Philosophical naturalism

which believes

that there's only,

there's no God,

there's only matter

and energy

and movement.

That's a faith.

That's a faith.

There's reasons for it,

there's reasons

why it's not true.

It's a faith.

And this story

doesn't violate anything

in science

but it does

if this is true,

sorry for the graphic detail

for young children,

it is a dagger

in the heart

of philosophical naturalism.

It is a dagger

in the heart

of philosophical naturalism

if this evidence

is true.

And so many people,

what happens

when they look at this,

they don't even examine

the fact that they're

committed to atheism.

they're so deeply

committed to atheism

they disregard the evidence.

That's end of my geek moment.

Back to the text.

So what happens?

If it's just an empty tomb,

it would be a puzzling mystery.

So what happens?

Well, let's look.

Verse 11.

But Mary stood

weeping outside the tomb

and as she wept,

she stooped

to look into the tomb.

Now pause here.

This is actually

a really important thing.

If you look at all

of the resurrection accounts,

this is something

which cannot be

overemphasized.

Right now,

as Mary is looking

into the tomb

and she's crying,

she has the exact

same view

of Jesus

and his death

as Herod

who mocked him,

as Caiaphas

and Annas

and the religious leaders

who hounded

the authorities to death

until he was put to death.

She has the exact

same view of Jesus

as Pilate

and all of the Roman soldiers.

She has the exact

same view of Jesus' death

as Judas.

She is no different

than any of them.

She has the exact

same view of Jesus' death

as Richard Dawkins

and Sam Harris.

Jesus is dead.

Now,

everybody else

might be happy

about that.

Judas isn't.

He's committed suicide.

It's driven him

to suicide.

But she has

the exact same view

as all of them

and that's why

she's weeping

and that's why

she just wants

to find the dang body

so it can be treated

with some reverence

and respect

because she loved

this man.

She didn't love him

in an erotic way.

She loved him.

In fact,

part of the reason

she loved him,

I'll explain that

in the very next

little bit

which is right here

verses 12 and 13.

And she saw

two angels in white

sitting where the body

of Jesus had lay

and one at the head

and one at the feet.

They said to her,

Woman,

Why are you weeping?

She said to them,

They have taken away

my Lord

and I do not know

where they have laid him.

Now,

you see,

some people right now,

I can just,

I,

one of my friends

at Starbucks

at this point in time

if I was reading it to him,

he would just reach over

right now,

he would close that Bible

and say,

George,

angels,

mythological,

legend,

okay,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

whoa,

I would just say to him,

that's your faith

in philosophical naturalism

not looking at the evidence.

The reason Mary Magdalene

loved Jesus so much

is that she had been possessed

by seven demons

and he had cast them out.

That's what the Gospels tell us.

She had been delivered

from seven demonic beings

who had possessed her

and she loved Jesus.

She trusted him with her life

after what he had done for her.

And now she comes

and she sees angels.

The Bible teaches

not that everything

that people say

about angels is true

but the Bible reveals

that angels exist.

And you need to go

to the Bible

to understand

what angels

and demons

are really like

but we'll get to that

again in a moment.

So she has this conversation

with the angels.

They're inside the tomb.

They just are there.

In verse 14,

having said this,

she turned around

and saw Jesus standing

but she did not know

that it was Jesus.

The text doesn't say why

but maybe she heard

the sound of a foot

on the gravel.

Maybe there was a bit

of a shadow

that passed in the room.

But she would have been

in darkness.

It would have been

bright outside.

And this is actually

once again

very important evidence

because you see

she just sort of glances

at him.

Verse 15,

let's read that.

Jesus said to her,

Woman,

why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking?

Supposing him to be

the gardener,

she said to him,

Sir, if you have

carried him away,

tell me where you

have laid him

and I will take him away.

Just sort of pause.

She's in the room.

It's echoey.

We don't entirely know

why she didn't recognize

Jesus' voice very well

but she's in a small cave

and he's speaking

through that.

But one of the reasons

she wouldn't have thought

it was Jesus

is because she knows

that Jesus is dead.

And the thing about man,

and this is something

which we all have

a basic sense of,

he's a healthy,

strong man.

He doesn't look like

he's had nails

driven through his hands

and nails driven

through his feet.

He doesn't look like

he's been lashed

39 times so terribly

that the bones

of his back

were probably exposed

to the air.

He doesn't look like

he's had crown of thorns.

He doesn't look sick

or broken.

He looks like

a strong,

normal male.

But six or seven weeks ago

when there was

this terrible,

terrible ice storm,

between the services

I drove somebody home

and as I was just

over there

I fell on the ice

and I fell really hard.

I can't remember

a time in my life

I've fallen so hard.

Like it stunned me.

And as soon as I'd fallen

I knew that it was not good.

In fact,

I was worried

I would be able to get up.

And I must have

bruised or broken

at least three ribs.

My shoulder was

very sore

and my knee was sore.

And I got up

and I came in

and Owen and Anne

who were at the door

they didn't know

anything about me

but as soon as I came in

they said,

are you alright?

Are you alright?

Because they have

a basic sense.

I don't know

if it was my skin color

or whatever

but I don't look right.

I don't look right.

And Mary,

you know,

so we all have

that basic sense.

Somebody doesn't look right.

They've been hurt

in some fundamental way.

They just,

there's maybe something

about the way

they move or stand.

But Mary looks

and she sees a gardener.

Somebody who's a laborer

not somebody

who's deeply hurt.

And you might say,

well why didn't she talk

to the guy longer?

Well, come on.

Just be realistic.

Two angels this way?

A gardener that way?

Which way are you going to look?

Be honest.

I'm looking at the angels too.

I mean,

gardeners come and go.

How often have you seen

two angels?

You look at the angels,

right?

So there's a bit of a sense.

She says something

and she goes back.

And then,

in verse 16,

yeah,

verse 16,

Jesus said to her,

Mary.

She turned

and said to him

in Aramaic,

Rabboni,

which means teacher.

For Christians

who've been reading

the gospel,

one of the things

you know in John chapter 10

John 10 · chapter mention

is there's a famous story

that Jesus is the good shepherd

and he calls his sheep

by name.

And you can't read this

without,

if you've read the whole story,

that will go instantly

into your mind.

And whatever it is,

amongst other things,

how on earth would a random

gardener know her name?

But as soon as this guy

says her name,

now she turns

and she realizes

and recognizes the voice.

the grave is not just empty

because the body

had been stolen.

Jesus is fully alive

and standing there.

If you look in my blog

this week,

I give a concise list

of reasons,

historical and other reasons

why it is

that the resurrection

of Jesus

is true.

And he's alive.

So verse 17 and 18,

she comes out

of the tomb,

obviously,

and Jesus said to her

and she starts

to obviously

cling to him,

just grab him.

And Jesus said to her,

do not cling to me

for I have not yet

ascended to the Father

but go to my brothers,

my brothers,

the people who

had abandoned him,

his disciples,

go to my brothers

and say to them,

I am ascending

to my Father

and your Father

to my God

and your God.

And Mary Magdalene

went and announced

to the disciples,

I have seen the Lord

and that he had said

these things to her.

Now,

sort of what does

this all mean to us?

We sort of have to

bring this home

a little bit.

I know I'm an old guy

and I know

that it can be

very dangerous

when old guys

talk about pop music.

So,

like,

just give me

a little bit of grace,

okay?

But,

a couple of weeks ago

I was at the supper table

with my wife

and two kids

and we're listening

to Magic 100.

And on Magic 100

a Lauren Daigle song

comes on.

And,

I don't listen

to the radio that much

but it seemed like

any time I was in the car,

whether it was listening

to Hot 89.9

or Magic 100

or whatever the other ones were,

I'd hear this

Lauren Daigle song on.

And that's not

what's so surprising

but Lauren Daigle

is a Christian performer

and the Magic 100 guy

says,

we're going to listen

to this Lauren Daigle song,

You Say.

Some of you know

what that is

as soon as I say that.

And then it said

the number one song

in Ottawa

this week again.

And I just looked it up

as part of the sermon preparation.

It's been on the number,

it's been the top 20

in Canada

for 39 weeks.

39 weeks.

The fifth most

uploaded

or downloaded

whatever the right word

song is

on Apple Music

if I read

the statistics correctly.

That's just this week.

39 as of this past Monday.

There was number 10

in Canada.

39 weeks

on the top 20.

But the thing about it is

I thought,

well this is a Christian song.

Like,

how is it

that it's so popular

on secular radio?

And then I thought,

oh you know what it probably is?

It's probably one of those

Jesus is my boyfriend

Christian songs.

You know what those

Jesus is my boyfriend

Christian songs are?

It means,

oh I love you,

I love you,

I love you,

I love you.

You're so beautiful,

you're so wonderful.

And it never actually

says Jesus, right?

So it could easily

just be somebody

talking about their

boyfriend or their

girlfriend or their

husband and their wife.

And I thought,

well it's probably just,

but I seem to remember

some of the lyrics,

I didn't think it fit.

So,

so here,

you know,

give me some,

give me some grace.

Here's the lyrics.

I'm not going to do it all

and I'm,

you guys when I come to it

can do the ooh,

ah stuff,

okay?

I was joking beforehand,

I could have had Amy up here

and I could have just gone

like this to Amy

and then she could have

done it for us

because she can sing

and I can't.

But here's how the,

here's how the lyrics go.

39 weeks,

Christian song,

non-Christians,

obviously,

if it's in the 39 weeks

in the top 20 in Canada,

Canada is a profoundly

secular nation.

But listen to these lyrics,

it's very puzzling.

I've been really puzzled

as to what is happening

when non-Christians

listen to this song

and sing along with it

and keep wanting it

to be played.

It goes like this,

I keep fighting voices

in my mind

that say I'm not enough.

every single lie

that tells me

I will never measure up.

So right away,

you can,

it's,

I think it's well sung

but I'm an old guy

but I,

you can see why

people like this song.

I mean,

that's a very,

very common experience,

isn't it?

That we struggle

with voices in our head

that say that we're not enough,

that we'll never measure up.

But it continues on.

Am I just more than the sum

of every high

and every low?

Remind me once again

just who I am

because I need to know.

Ooh,

ah,

or something like that.

And then it goes on

and you can see

why this is very popular,

right?

I mean,

this is a very common experience

of feeling that within us.

Christian and non-Christian,

Buddhist,

Muslim,

Atheist,

and then it continues.

You say I am loved

when I can't feel a thing.

You say I am strong

when I think I am weak.

You say that I am,

you say I am held

when I am falling short.

When I don't belong,

oh,

you say that I am yours.

Now just pause here

for a second.

And it goes on,

I believe,

I believe,

oh,

I believe,

what you say of me,

oh,

I believe.

Now you see,

if you're reading the lyrics,

the official lyrics,

you can see that she does something

which is grammatically

unpopular right now,

which I always do,

which is to capitalize

the you and the your,

that she's obviously

referring to God.

If you look at the written lyrics,

she's referring to God.

But when you're just hearing it,

that's not clear.

It could just be,

is it her mom?

Is it her dad?

Is it her boyfriend?

Her husband?

Is it her best friend?

Is it her kid?

But then the song takes

a very,

very puzzling turn.

And this is what,

this is what I think

makes me really wonder

what's going on in the song.

The very next two lines

are the only thing

that matters now

is everything

you think of me.

In you,

I find my worth.

In you,

I find my identity.

And can you just

skip down the next bit?

Skip that,

next one.

And then look after that.

She says,

taking all I have now,

I'm laying it at your feet.

You have every failure, God,

and you'll have every victory.

And the God there

doesn't mean anything

because a couple of years ago

when I was taping my radio show,

I had the guy

who sometimes produced

the three guys on the radio.

And I joked

that I like to listen to the show

because it was so religious.

And he looked at me

and said,

you're kidding.

I said, yeah,

because everything is,

oh God this,

oh God that,

oh God that.

It's like a deeply religious show.

He's talking about God all the time.

And he thought it was pretty funny.

So, you know,

for the average person,

just to hear,

oh God,

doesn't mean anything, right?

It's just, oh God,

I can't believe that that happened.

So what is,

like what's on earth going on?

Like on one hand,

you can see from this song

that it's,

it's talking about something

which is a very,

very persistent problem

of the fact that we have

these voices of doubts.

I'm a failure.

I'm a nothing.

I'm a complete and utter,

like, you know,

reject.

I'm hopeless.

And we have these thoughts.

Many of us here,

we don't even want to share it

with very many people.

Maybe our closest friend

that we have these things

that go on in our head,

these deep accusatory conversations.

And so this woman

is giving voice to all of that.

And she's giving voice to it

in terms of,

for many people,

it's just as if,

but you believe in me.

You don't say these things.

You say different things.

But then when all of a sudden

she says the only thing

that matters now

is everything you think of me

and you I find my worth

and you I find my identity

and every one of us

would say,

time out, honey.

Don't say that.

Your boyfriend will let you down.

Your dad will let you down.

Your mom will let you down.

Your teacher will let you down.

Terrible thing to say to you people

who have very young,

adorable kids.

Your kids will get over

and they will let you down.

Like I just so puzzled

that this song

is so profoundly popular in Canada.

Like what's going on with people?

So here's how this all sort of connects

with this great story.

If you could put up the first point,

that would be wonderful.

Almost 2,000 years ago,

just outside of Jerusalem

on a spring morning,

and historians,

because there's two ways

of dealing with how

the many instances

of the Bible intersecting,

the four ancient biographies

intersecting with secular,

pagan, Jewish history,

they know that it was

either the year 30

or the year 33

in April.

Of 30 or 33.

One of those two.

Some prefer 30,

some prefer 33.

Both work.

But almost 2,000 years ago,

just outside of Jerusalem,

on a spring morning,

because he had risen from the dead,

his grave was found empty.

The grave clothes were laid there.

The stone was rolled away.

He was then seen fully alive by Mary

and later by many others.

This truth validates and vindicates

who Jesus is

and all that he said.

This historical truth

validates and vindicates

who Jesus is

and all that he said.

Validates and vindicates.

That's why, you know,

when I try to talk to my friends

who believe in paranormal forces

and they say to me,

why do I privilege

the Christian account?

And I try to say to them,

listen,

amongst other things,

is, you know,

if Jesus really did rise from the dead

in the way he did,

he predicted he was going to rise

from the dead

and all that other stuff,

then that validates and vindicates.

Jesus says the Bible is true.

You believe the biblical account

of these things.

You believe their account

of what angels are

and what demons are

and what's right and wrong.

It all comes out of that.

If Jesus predicted

and prophesied his death,

his burial,

his crucifixion,

death, burial,

and resurrection,

he himself says

in Matthew and in John

that his resurrection

will be a sign,

an indicator,

a pointer

that what he has said is true.

And I think that's a completely

and utterly

and massively

reasonable response.

If it happened,

it's true.

It validates it.

But some of you might say,

okay, so yeah, yeah, yeah,

you know,

Jesus is alive,

Elvis is alive,

big deal.

It's just like a curious fact.

But no,

that's why what he says

is so important,

if you could put up

the next point.

Jesus ascended to the Father

to be with you

with love and affection,

with grace and power.

Jesus ascended to the Father

to be with you

with love and affection,

with grace,

and with power.

You see,

that's the whole significance of it.

Jesus wasn't saying like,

oh, yuck,

you're a woman,

you're touching me.

No.

The greatest honor

is bestowed upon Mary Magdalene

as the apostle to the apostles,

the first one to proclaim

the resurrection of Jesus

from the dead.

What he's saying to her is,

listen,

I am going to the Father

and because I am going to the Father,

I can be with everyone.

This morning,

I can be with the Christians

crying and mourning

in Sri Lanka

because their loved ones

were murdered.

And I can be with Christians

in Ottawa

and I can be with Christians

in Nairobi

and in Beijing

because I have ascended

to the Father,

because I am no longer

limited to this physical body

which is now going to be

with my Father,

in heaven

for all eternity.

I can be with you.

Don't cling to me

and hold on to me

in terms of just,

it's just going to be

me and you, Jesus,

and my apostles,

this small,

privileged few.

I ascend to the Father

to be with you.

To be with you

with love

and affection,

with grace

and with power,

which is why

Lauren Daigle can say,

I just want to listen

to what you have to say

to me, Jesus.

That's why she can say that.

Listen,

my identity

gets beaten up

and wrecked all the time.

I get harsh words

from my boss.

I get harsh words

from my husband

or my wife.

I don't have a husband

and a wife.

I wish I did.

I get harsh things

from my kids

and friends

and it can be

really hard for me

just to remember

who I am

and I have these voices

in my head,

but you are with me

and you love me

with love and affection.

If you could put up

the last point,

that would be great.

And only the truth

of the gospel

makes your unconditional

self-giving

and surrender

to Jesus

a reasonable

and desirable goal.

Begins as an act

but it's always a goal.

To say to the Lord,

I lay down my mask,

I lay down my defenses,

I lay down my high tower,

I lay down everything,

I give myself to you

and I surrender

and I surrender unconditionally.

It's really hard

for me to surrender

unconditionally

but help me

to surrender

unconditionally to you

and then I thank you

that you take me

even though I can't

really do that entirely

but you take me

as your own

and I give myself to you

and I ask that

throughout the rest

of my life

I will grow

in my ability

to give myself to you

and surrender

unconditionally.

And that's what

Lauren Daigle

is doing in the song.

And why is that

a reasonable thing?

Because this is

Isaiah 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20

of the Gospel of John.

And if you read

all the way through

the Gospel of John

you discover who Jesus is.

At the beginning

of the Gospel of John

Jesus through John

reveals that life

and light

and love

is responsible

for creating all things.

And then human beings

turned away from God.

And what does that mean?

When they turn away

from life

you turn to death.

When you turn away

from love

you turn towards

indifference

and hatred.

And when you turn

away from light

you turn towards

the darkness.

And Jesus

when he dies

on the cross

he takes your

darkness on himself.

He takes your

hatred.

He takes your

indifference.

He takes your

death upon himself

and he dies

for you.

And so when you

are surrendering

to Jesus

you are surrendering

to love.

Why wouldn't you

want to surrender

to love?

To pure

uncreated

unfailing

eternal love.

You are surrendering

to life.

You are surrendering

to light.

And then the

gospel continues

to introduce

Jesus

and Jesus

is revealed

as the one

who can heal

turn water

into wine.

That Jesus

is the presence

of God

that is the fullness

of joy.

Why wouldn't you

surrender to a

fullness of joy?

He heals

the official son.

He is health.

Why wouldn't you

surrender to health?

He heals

the paralytic

who's grumpy

and doesn't like him.

Means that he is

grace

unmerited grace

in the flesh.

Why wouldn't

you and I

surrender

to unmerited grace?

He feeds

the five thousand

which shows

that he is

the creator

and the provider.

Why would we

not surrender

to our creator

and provider?

He walks

on water

which shows

that he is

in fact

the new heaven

and the new earth.

Why would we

not surrender

to the new heaven

and the new earth?

He is the man

who heals

the man born blind.

It means that

he is light himself.

He is sight.

Why would you

and I not surrender

to light itself

and sight itself?

He is the one

who raises Lazarus

which shows

that he is life.

Why once again

would we not

surrender

to life?

He is introduced

as the bread of life,

the light of the world,

the entrance into God

or the gate.

He is the good shepherd.

He is the resurrection

and the life.

He is the way,

the truth,

and the life.

He is the vine,

the one by whom

we can be connected to

and be connected

to the living God.

Why would we not

surrender

and give ourselves

to that?

Why would we choose

darkness

and hatred

and indifference

and darkness

rather than surrender

to that?

Jesus is introduced

in the beginning

of John's gospel

as the Lamb

of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

and we have just seen

that he has done this.

This is who he is.

Why would you not

surrender

and give yourself

to him?

And why would it

not be your goal

for the rest of your life

when you begin

the Christian walk

by surrendering to him

to have it your goal

to surrender more?

To surrender more

to love,

to joy,

to life,

to light,

to walk from darkness

and hatred

and indifference?

And why would we not

want to regularly hear

what he says

about our new identity

in him

and who we really are?

Please stand.

Just bow our heads

in prayer.

Father,

if there are any here

who have never surrendered

to love itself,

love made flesh,

light made flesh,

light made flesh,

father,

they can feel

the knocking

of your son

on the door

of their heart

and we ask

that you help them

to open that door

and come in

to say,

I surrender,

I surrender all,

I give myself to you,

be my Lord,

be my Savior.

And father,

for all of us,

father,

you know how

we get beaten up

by the world,

you know the doubt,

the confused identity,

you know all those

things about us,

you know the chaos

that goes on inside us,

the bright shining moments

of goodness

and greatness

and those horrific times

of just being really bad

and dark

and you know all there is

about us

and father,

you gripped us

with Jesus

and he is our Savior

and our Lord

and so father,

we ask that you

fan into flame within us

a longing and yearning

to make it a daily goal,

a lifelong goal

to surrender

and give ourselves

to the one

who makes us right

with you.

And all God's people

said together,

Amen.