The Resurrection Renews - John 20 - Iljin Cho

I look forward to this morning and are blessed to have Iljin and Lauren here to spend some time with us for us to get to know them and for them to get to know us as well, Father. So be with us this morning and we look forward to service here shortly.

We pray in Christ's name, amen. Can I have you two come up? This is Iljin and Lauren Cho. They're from Chicago area, Illinois. And they're going to share some of their testimony and whatever the Lord has laid upon their hearts.

So, please.

Testimonies of Conversion and Grace

Hello. Thank you so much for your warm welcome this morning and what a privilege and honor to join you on the most important day, Sunday of the week, but not only that, of the year he has risen. So, a brief testimony I'll share and then I'll ask my wife to share her testimony too.

And of course you can ask us questions today or even later on, you can get my email. So I grew up in a non-Christian home in Korea, but my parents were open-minded. So, we tried out different religious houses of worship like Catholic mass, Buddhist temple.

We've even visited the Mormon temple in Utah, just as a tourist. I've always believed there's God out there, I just didn't know which one. So, I was never an atheist, but I didn't really care to know who the true God is.

But, so my family moved to the States when I was nine, so my dad could get a master's degree. And I was still, I was going to school in Monterey. And I, when I was 13, I started having an existential crisis because I'm studying hard and I'm studying hard in order to get to a good college.

And then after getting a good degree, it would be to get a good job. And then when you get a good job, you make a lot of money and when you're successful, you know, you have a good family. But then I realized, what's the point of all that if I'm going to die anyway?

Why does it matter whether I live a successful life or not? If in the end, no one's really going to remember me. People hardly remember their presidents and they're supposed to be the most well-known people, right?

So, I had this crisis and realized, is life just meaningless? So I was having this existential crisis, but I found a book on the kitchen table called Dinner with a Perfect Stranger. And it's a fiction of an atheist guy named Nick having dinner with Jesus.

And he's answering all these questions of, Jesus is answering all the questions as to why certain religions just do not work, right? Islam doesn't work because there's only one witness and we're just relying on him.

You know, Mormonism doesn't work. Things like that, you know, Hinduism doesn't work because they believe that their God is the whole universe, Brahman, right? But then the universe had a beginning and that's even scientifically accepted.

So there's a God who didn't exist before, right? Just didn't work. But one thing that really got me was when the atheist guy asked Jesus, then how do I get into heaven? And Jesus answers, you can't. And that's what really struck me.

Because what's the point of doing all the good works? Why do people go to church? If you can't get into heaven. And Jesus proceeded to share the gospel that you yourself are not good enough to get into heaven because you have sinned, you have rebelled against God.

But God is so loving that in order to accept you, to love you, and to save you from your sin, he sent his one and only son to die on the cross on your behalf. And he's risen. And by believing in him, you have a relationship with God because Jesus paid for the punishment that you deserved so that you can be made, you can be forgiven.

But not only that, adopted into God's family. And that's when I realized that that is the meaning to life. I'm made to have a relationship with God only through Jesus Christ. And I started going to a local church in Monterey and God has been sanctifying me ever since.

And for any specific questions, I would love to have a conversation with you and I'll let my wife share her testimony.

So my dad grew up nominally Catholic. My mom did not grow up with any kind of religion. They divorced when I was four. And so my first experience of church was going to this big mega church, going to Sunday school and doing little dance moves to the songs, had no idea what was going on or what that really meant.

And so my dad got remarried and it was actually my former stepmom who brought us to church. And I remember going to a youth conference in seventh grade and inviting the Lord Jesus into my heart, but had no idea what that meant.

No one explained the gospel to me. What it meant to have someone die for your sins. And so I lived as though I was saved, but in my own view of what morality was, well, I'm not like that person or I'm not like that, like I'm not murdering anybody, but still all sin leads to death.

And I grew up very lost, very depressed and anxious, very low self-esteem, very shy and quiet and had no secure identity in who God was and what he has done for me. And so I struggled a lot with those things.

And my stepmom was abusive towards my dad and sometimes to me. And so it had me questioning, what does it really mean to be a follower of Christ? And I was very confused. And so I was in high school, you know, living, saying, oh, I love God and I want to live for God, but living according to my own standard instead of God's standard.

And it got to a point where I became super depressed and I wanted to end my life. And so I had planned it out and was about to do it, but God intervened and stopped me and brought upon the verse of, for by grace you have been saved, not by work, so that no one may boast.

And I finally understood that it's the gospel. And a lot of my life was, God, I can't do it. I'm not enough. And it being, yeah, you're not enough, but Christ was enough for you on the cross. God made the way for you, so you do not have to do that.

You are not Christ. And so I was really set free from a lot of anxiety and depression and my life completely changed. The circumstances didn't change, but I had this renewed hope and peace and I just wanted to be so kind to my stepmom and kind to my parents.

And there's just been so many great things I could share about how God has worked through that. But one of them being, yeah, I was really angry towards my mom just because of her lifestyle of drinking a lot and not being a mother, but man, the Lord has worked through her life and now she's saved.

She became saved 2014 and has really renewed our relationship. And sorry, I'm getting, and I'm really thankful for God for that because if God could save anyone, save my mom, he can't save anybody. And God's just been doing so, so many amazing things.

And so the real testimony is that God does save and he saves those who call upon his name in repentance and in true humility and accept the grace that we didn't earn, but that he did gave for us a costly grace that he paid the full price for that we don't have to pay.

And so God has been doing amazing work in our life and praying for family members. And so we're just really glad of the work in our life and, you know, we want to continue to share that truth together.

Resurrection Sunday and the Hope of New Life

Well, good morning and officially formally welcome you to Faith Bible Church on this resurrection Sunday. What a glorious day it is. What a blessed day it is. I could just stop right now and just relish and meditate on what has already occurred this morning.

God is so good and his mercy is new every day. And we're witnesses of that and to see God at work in people's lives and to see it in through testimonies and through folks hearing the word and responding to the word.

That's what it's all about. You know, really, I mean, that's God's economy. It's not ours, but it's his. And we need to be faithful to that. And I just pray this morning that we could all have an amazing focus, tremendous focus on the meaning of this day and of what it means to be a Christ follower.

I want to start off just real quickly saying that Victor is having some health issues. He is going to be having a pacemaker put in tomorrow. His heart's beating too slowly. In my engineering brain, it's an electrical issue, not a mechanical issue.

So it's not the arteries and things like that, but it's pulses of, that's how your heart does its thing. So anyway, you can be, hold him up in prayer and Barb as well. She supports him. I don't know for a fact, I think it's outpatient, but that's tomorrow.

So that needs to happen quickly and that they really accelerated him getting in there. So let's keep them in prayer, would you please? So that's Victor Arnett. We already had, before the service, a welcome.

Welcome to Iljin and Lauren Cho, our pastoral candidate that has been here for the last couple of days. We've really been, enjoyed getting to know them, having some fellowship with them. What a precious couple they are.

They have a heart for the Lord and just love him and want to serve him and have been very purposeful for that for quite some time now. And so we're just thankful that you are here and look forward to Brother Iljin is going to be giving this morning's message.

As we continue to prepare for the service today, I wanted to read John 11, 25, 26. You can just listen in, but it's a promise from God and then it's followed by a question and that we should be asking ourselves.

And that is, Jesus said to her, and this is Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Tremendous promise. And then he concludes, Jesus concludes by saying, do you believe this? Do we? We should be asking that question. And if you don't listen closely today at the service, at the message, and just dwell on that and allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in you.

And that's for all of us believers and those that have not come to faith. So let's pray. Lord God, we thank you that we are gathered this morning to celebrate your death and resurrection, father, that gives us life, eternal life, that we are redeemed by the blood, by your blood, father, and that we can have life everlasting, that we can trust and follow you in a way that brings peace in our lives, that brings hope to the hopeless, father.

So father, we asked this morning that we would honor you in all that we do, that our voices would be lifted up in song and that we would just sing and in a way that will rejoice at how good you are and how merciful you are and just what a great, mighty God, a majestic God, and that we put you at a very high place, Lord, in our thoughts and our prayers.

So Lord, we thank you for this morning. We just pray for brother Ilgen as he presents what you've laid upon his heart, father, and that we would all be receptive in the power of the Holy Spirit, father, to understand the truth of the word, father.

So we ask that you bless our time. We honor you in all that we do, father. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. David?

Good morning. Good morning. Happy Easter. Happy Easter. Come let us worship and bow down, but let's stand and sing.

The Suffering Servant and the Resurrection Hope of Isaiah 53

Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to the book of Isaiah for our scripture reading. It's resurrection day. It's a wonderful day to be a Christian. It's wonderful to be in church, to be worshiping the Lord.

The king of kings and the Lord of lords, amen. Wonderful time. I want to read from Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53. And I'm going to read the whole chapter beginning at verse one, Isaiah chapter 53, right in the middle of your Bible.

They call it the little Bible. There's 66 chapters in Isaiah, 66 books in the Bible. So they call it the little Bible. And it actually has an old and a new Testament. Isaiah has two main divisions, God's judgment, and then God's answer, God's solution to his judgment.

And this is in the second part of the book. And of course, it's prophetic. Isaiah chapter 53, verse one, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him.

He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, we were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment.

And who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people, he was stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death.

Because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to pruse him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days.

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many. For he shall bear the iniquities.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great. And he shall divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

May God add his blessing. To the reading of his word. Let's pray together. Our heavenly father, we humbly bow our hearts before you. You're the creator God. The one that spoke this world into being, said, let there be light.

And there was light. The God that so loved the world. A sin and fallen world. Full of transgressions. But yet you so loved us that you sent your only begotten son. To be born of a virgin. The prophet Isaiah predicted and prophesied his birth 700 years before it ever happened.

We just read, father God, this amazing passage from the same book. Again, 700 years before the birth. And before his death, before he took that walk to the cross of Calvary, God. And before he said, it is finished.

Gave up his last. And was buried, father, in the tomb for three days and rose again. A tomb that was guarded by Roman soldiers 24 hours a day. A tomb that was sealed with a four ton rock. And a tomb that was sealed with a Roman seal.

The breaking of which resulted in the penalty of death. And yet he rose again. And it is him this day that we have our hope. Lord, we do pray for our nation. You know, father God, the things that are going on in our country.

And father, we understand throughout history that the answer is not a new president or a new Congress. The answer for what ails the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus, that a savior has been born.

And a savior has given his life to pay the penalty for our sin and risen again. So, Lord, we do pray your mercy upon our country, upon our state. We think, father, of people that do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior.

Family members, Lord, that we might even see today. We pray for their salvation, father, that you might be pleased to draw them to Jesus Christ. Father, to open their eyes for the need they have to be born again.

To receive Jesus as Lord and savior God. Lord, have mercy upon our country. We do pray for Victor, father, who tomorrow will go into the hospital. We pray, father, for the doctors and nurses that will care for him.

God, that this surgery would be done in such a way, father, that he would be returned back to normal. God, such a faithful man, such a faithful servant that we love so much. So, Lord, we commit this service and the worship of you this day to your care.

May Christ be exalted and may God be glorified this day. In Jesus name. Amen.

His treasures bring many sons to my sin upon his show. Shame is called gifts. No power, no his.

Him with many crowns. Thank you so much for leading and worship through music. And thank you again for your warm welcome. You really feel loved by you guys. And I would like us to turn to John 20 in your Bible for the reading of God's word, John 20.

Now, on 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 we're going to the tomb. So they both ran together and 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 his 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 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.

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.

Then they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Now, when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.

Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him, Ravoni, which is to say teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be with you.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the father has sent me, I also send you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins, the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

Now Thomas called the twin. One of the 12 was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. So he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

And after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace to you. Then he said to Thomas, Reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side.

Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

This is the word of God. Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful and we praise you that we can gather here to celebrate your son's resurrection. We thank you for your son's death on the cross on our behalf so that our sins may be forgiven by believing in him, by looking toward him.

And God, we thank you that he is risen, that this is the most important fact in the whole universe, that our God is alive. And God, I pray that you would use your Holy Spirit to speak through me, that your word may be preached clearly and honorably.

And God, I pray that you would move in our hearts to receive your word, to clearly see the truth and be changed by your word through your spirit. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I'm grateful that Pastor John has been going through the Gospel of Mark because the themes introduced in the beginning of the book find their fulfillment in the end.

Right before this in chapter 19, John depicts what happened on the first Good Friday. Jesus was crucified because the Jewish leaders opposed him for claiming to be the son of God. To the Jews, Jesus calling himself the son of God was blasphemous because he made himself equal with God.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, the Jewish leaders handed over their Messiah to a Gentile leader, Pilate. When Pilate was reluctant to kill Jesus, the Jewish leaders insisted, we have a law and according to that law he must die because he claimed to be the son of God.

John 19, 7. In an ironic sense, the Jews rejected their king, their messianic king in favor of a Roman king, Caesar. When God came to dwell with his people in the flesh, they crucified him. However, it was precisely by going to the cross that God would save not only his people but the whole world from sin.

It was precisely during the hour of the cross when those around him mocked and humiliated him, Jesus was exalted and glorified. It was precisely by staying on the cross when his enemies presumed they've defeated him, Jesus was victorious over sin and he was ruling from the cross.

After Jesus let out his spirit, some of his disciples took his body and buried him in a tomb which was located in an unnamed garden. The passage for today starts after that and it is an account of the most important event in history.

So important that if the resurrection did not happen, the Apostle Paul says, we Christians are most to be pitied. However, because he is risen, we have every reason to be joyful and assured of our salvation.

Yet, many in the church do not quite grasp the full implications of the resurrection. Some believe by blind faith. Some believe as they're told by the Sunday school teachers or their parents. Some believe but live as if Jesus were still dead.

Here, the Apostle John, the author of this book tells us the full implication of living as a new people because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The question that this passage answers today is what does Jesus accomplish through his resurrection?

What does Jesus accomplish through his resurrection? First, we must set the foundation that the resurrection happened which leads to my first point. Jesus gave us enough evidence for the resurrection.

Evidence for the Resurrection

Jesus gave us enough evidence for the resurrection. On the Easter Sunday, we're used to referring this day as the third day and that's what the other gospel authors do. But the author of this gospel starts this day on the first day of the week.

As it says in verse one, 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. This act of God occurs on the first day of the week, Sunday.

What is another important act of God that occurred on the first day of the week? Creation. Considering the literary setting of this gospel, the only gospel that starts with the Genesis phrase in the beginning to introduce the word of God.

This is the beginning of new creation portrayed right before our eyes. And what is the location of this tomb? A garden. Here, Jesus through his death and resurrection inaugurates, starts new creation, the redeemed creation.

Although both the author and readers, as we know, why the stone was removed from the entrance of the tomb, Mary Magdalene is shocked. What does she do? 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.

Then, presuming Jesus' body is stolen, Mary immediately goes to the disciples, the early leaders of the church, to share this horrific news. After all, dead men generally do not escape their tombs on their own accord.

The two disciples here are Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved. The beloved disciple is believed to be the author of this book. Yet he never discloses his name, but only identifies himself as the one whom Jesus loved.

My New Testament professor would say, one truth that shapes and fills his identity is that Jesus loved him. Now, when these two disciples hear that the body of Jesus is missing, they rush to the tomb.

Verse three, Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb. So, they both ran together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. I do not plan on placing any symbolic claims as to why John was faster than Peter because it was not a race to begin with and the author is just documenting an important event that occurred.

There just is no warrant to pit these two apostles against each other. So, what does the beloved disciple do when he reaches the tomb first? And he's stooping down, looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in.

This is the first evidence of why this cannot be a case of grave robbery. Grave robbers do not care to remove the linen cloths that's wrapping the body before stealing it. When Peter arrives, he corroborates what the beloved disciple saw.

Verse six, then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloths lying there. But Peter goes further than the beloved disciple. The camera zooms in to the tomb and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.

This casts even more doubt on the grave robbery scenario. Also, the better rendering of the handkerchief would be the face cloths because they were the cloths that wrapped Jesus' head. The folded face cloths contrast with the first resurrection depicted in this gospel, the raising of Lazarus.

When Lazarus was raised from the dead in John 11, his body and face were still bound, not so here. This hints at a different type of resurrection. Wherever Jesus' body is, he is freely unbound. There is no remnant of death on him.

Then John goes in and sees for himself. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also and he saw and believed. When John looks at the folded face cloths and grave clothes, he is the first to believe in the resurrection of Jesus.

But he tells us his belief is by sight, not scripture, as verse nine says. For as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. The first witnesses of the empty tomb did not consider what scripture, the Bible, had to say about the resurrection.

John, the narrator, is saying scripture is an important testimony to the resurrection. After all, there are many places in the Old Testament that testifies to the resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

As you see here, John is building up a case to show why we can believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Even in the first nine verses of John 20, there are compelling evidence for the resurrection that we cannot, frankly, ignore.

The tomb is empty. It's not only empty, but the grave clothes are still inside. This rules out grave robbery. Not only that, the face cloths are folded. I don't know about you, but cloths don't fold themselves.

But rather, they're folded by someone, someone alive. When Jesus rose from the dead, he did not have to fold his face cloths, but he did. It was not for himself. He was not going to use those face cloths again.

The folded face cloths were to instill belief in those who saw. And indeed, the beloved disciple saw and believed. Furthermore, it is notable that we have at least three witnesses of the empty tomb. At least three.

Mary, Peter, John. In the Jewish legal system, a testimony from two or three witnesses were required. One was not enough. John is telling us that the resurrection meets the requirement of the legal system of those days.

Christians, the resurrection is not something we blindly believe. There is no blind faith in Christianity. But there is a strong case to be made. There is enough evidence just from those who witnessed in the first nine verses.

Even the first nine verses of this chapter give us more evidence for Christianity than other religions today. Islam relies on the testimony of one person named Muhammad. Mormons rely on Joseph Smith's testimony regarding the golden plates that showed him some truths that conveniently went missing.

Still one person. Christians, the empty tomb was witnessed by at least three people. And one of them believed at that moment. But of course, the often forgotten evidence here is scripture. God's testimony itself.

Even hundreds of years before the resurrection, scripture foretold the resurrection of a Davidic Messiah, the chosen one. For example, in Psalm 16, which is written by David, its 10th verse says, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, that is the underworld, you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay.

Now this may have been true for David in his earthly reign, that God didn't abandon him. But we know that he died and stayed dead. And in fact, decayed. And so did all of those people in the Old Testament.

Except for a few exceptions, of course. But does that mean God's word is wrong, that he let the chosen one, his holy ones to go decay? No. Because this is ultimately fulfilled in the Davidic offspring, the greater David, Jesus Christ.

Think about it. God did not abandon Jesus' soul to Sheol, the realm of the dead. Jesus did not stay dead. God did not allow his holy one to undergo decay. Jesus' body never rotted. Because he was raised from the dead.