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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
Mary Magdalene- From Delusion To Faith
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
Stronger than darkness, new and more.
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. Songs we have listened, all known,
He counts not their song. Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore.
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more.
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. As we constantly roam, what
Father so tender is calling us home. He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor.
His blood was the payment, His life was the cost.
We stunned neither death, we could never. His mercy is more.
I believe in Christ, risen from the dead.
He now reigns victorious, His kingdom knows no end.
Through His resurrection, death has lost its hold.
I know on that final day, I will rise as Jesus rose.
On that day, we will see You, shining brighter than the sun.
On that day, we will love You, as we lift our voices one.
Till that day, we will praise You, for Your never -ending grace.
And we will keep on singing. installation service tonight at 6 o 'clock p .m.
Now, you may be wondering, what is an installation service? It's when a pastor is installed, inducted into their role as a pastor of the church.
Now, I'm the senior pastor. We have John Laskin as an associate pastor. And tonight, we will be adding
Tim Robinson as an associate pastor of the church. Is Tim in the room right now?
Close the doors, close the doors. I can tell you, he doesn't know who the guest speaker is.
No, Mary Elizabeth already knows. She already knows. We have a guest speaker tonight preaching the service, and I'm going to tell you who it is.
Tim's not there? Okay. It is. It's a secret to him only. The president of Cairn University, Dr.
Williams. So, Tim is a graduate from Cairn University, and this guy, I read an article that was just amazing that he wrote taking a conservative stand against the nonsense in the culture, so I wanted to reinforce that.
Invited him to come, and he graciously agreed to preach the installation service. I will also give a charge to Tim and John Laskin each about five minutes, and then we will lay hands on him and install him.
All the elders will lay hands on Tim for his installation as a pastor. So, very exciting time in the life of our church today.
And we have two more really exciting announcements, but first, I'm going to hold you in suspense and call on John to come give us a couple of announcements about the men's ministry.
And about our maintenance ministry. The water to the building has been shut off temporarily.
We had a little flooding problem. So, you know what
I mean. You're going to have to wait until you get home.
Maybe not. We're working on it. So, yeah, the men's ministry.
We have two events coming up. One is in two weeks. One is in three months.
I will be here after the service if you have any questions. But basically, the two -week event is a football game.
We do it every year. It's the NFC championship game. Harry, who's going to be in that game?
We're rooting for Philadelphia, I know. So, that will be at 6 p .m.
Sunday, January 28th. We generally have maybe 30 to 40 guys there.
It's a real good time. Big screen, big room, real good food.
So, please see if you can make that. It's $12 per man and $6 per boy under 12 years old.
Sunday, the 28th, 6 p .m. And you can sign up online on our church center app.
And you can see me after the service if you have any other questions. And then in three months, we have our annual men's retreat.
And that is a three -day, two -night event in the Pocono Mountains.
And we have good teaching, good fellowship. The facility is just very welcoming.
And they have a lot of great food. And it's just a lot of fun. So, hopefully, please put that on your calendar.
Think about that. That's April 12th, 13th, and 14th. And it's roughly about $150 a man for the whole weekend.
Three days, two nights. April 12th, 13th, 14th. Thank you very much. You can clap for John.
About a year and a half, two years ago, a man walked through the back door and sat down in the church service.
And we visited him after. We said, who are you? Where are you from? His name was Hamilton Banda. And he was from Lilongwe, Malawi.
Came a long way to go to church. Well, he was studying at Cairn University for one year to get his master's in leadership before returning to Malawi to help with orphans and outreach to orphans and giving housing, protecting orphans on the street.
He himself grew up as an orphan in Malawi, but the Lord saved him and raised him up to help others.
Well, about six months ago, Hamilton, now back in Malawi, had a vision of opening an orphanage, the idea to build a safe house for girls.
And he put that out there and we then, about two months ago, said, you know what?
I think Cornerstone could be the major funding for this orphanage.
It costs $45 ,000 to build an entire orphanage in Malawi. And so in December, we undertook to raise that money for Hamilton to build the orphanage.
Now, if this was the plan in New Jersey, it would take two years just to get a permit.
And then maybe we could think about drawing up plans or whatever. But when Hamilton received the first installment of support from Cornerstone, guys, show a picture of what he did.
He went to the brickyard. This is Hamilton at the brickyard in Malawi. And he purchased the bricks needed to lay a foundation.
And then he got his guys from the church and hired a few contractors. And they broke ground in December.
And then they dug some trenches and cleared some land. And they laid the foundation of the orphanage, which they just envisioned months ago with the funding from Cornerstone.
So right now, as you see, the foundation of the orphanage has been laid already.
The plan is for it to be window high by the end of this month, by the end of January. And they're hoping to complete the building by May of 2024.
Isn't that amazing? God is good. He's working there in Malawi. And Hamilton gave us a very important email this last week that I think we'll all find very encouraging.
He has decided to name the orphanage the Cornerstone Girl Safe House Orphanage.
So praise the Lord. So just like that, we find ourselves being, you know, those who have funded an orphanage.
And it's named after our church all the way on the other side of the world in Central Africa. So praise
God for that announcement. And there's another great announcement. As if that wasn't big enough news, we about seven years ago tried to purchase that land on 507
Mount Laurel Road right next to our current property. But then it fell through. Somebody else bought it.
That person put it up for sale a few years ago. And we tried to buy it, but we got outbid and some builder bought it and started to build a house.
And we thought strike one, strike two. That's too bad. We've lost it. Well, by God's providence, this builder has decided to sell the house.
And the board met last week to discuss whether it would meet some needs of our church.
The reason that we're interested in buying the house next door is that we don't have enough space.
If you haven't noticed, the kids classes are full. We only have one extra classroom. And we could really use that for more kids as we're planning to do a trail life outreach and a number of things.
So we don't have classroom space to do a financial peace university or a prayer meeting or a parenting class or some other plan that we have for adult classes on Sunday morning.
Baptism classes, starting point classes. So what this would do is it would give us immediate classroom space, the big open room and some rooms.
We're also going to need an office for our new associate pastor who's now full time with us, Tim Robinson, who will be installed tonight.
Therefore, the board is proposing that we purchase that house and we are calling an emergency congregational meeting.
This is a congregational church together as a body will make the decision whether we want to do that.
It will be a week from it'll be a week and a day from now, Monday, January 22nd at 7 p .m.
Congregational meeting. Only members are able to vote on whether we should purchase it.
But everybody is welcome to come and listen or even give some input because everybody who's attending is a part of the church.
But members have that vote. That's how that's our polity. We will also be very financially conservative.
We are as a church able to do it, but we are also saving money in order to build a new sanctuary in the field right next to us here.
So we want to be financially conservative. So I'll tell you, we are talking about maybe selling the land that we purchased if we need to financially before we break ground over here.
So all of that will be discussed in just over a week at the congregational meeting. But we'll do everything very conservative financially, kind of like we're conservative and always will be that way with our money as well.
But God is doing great things, opening the opportunity. The builder is willing to get rid of it because he's he's been putting a lot into it.
And without taking any profit, it's as if God has commissioned him to build for the sake of the church.
And now it might be coming to us. So it looks like God is doing it. Question, John? Oh, if anybody needs to use the bathroom, the water's back on.
OK. All right. So if you can't tell, God is at work doing amazing things in this church.
Let's pray. Give him the thanks and the glory and then ask him to come meet with us here in this worship service. Father God, you have done great things for us and we are filled with joy.
We thank you for calling Tim and Mary Elizabeth to come be a part of this church.
And then tonight that we could install Tim as an associate pastor at Cornerstone. We thank you for the possibility of getting this extra space that we could even use through the week and have so many purposes.
Lord, and for the kitchen, all of these amazing gifts that we need. Lord, we thank you for you provide exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we could ask, think or imagine.
And we thank you, Lord, that we could have a hand in caring for orphans and those in deep need in Malawi.
Paul said that looking after the poor was the very thing he was eager to do. When reminded to remember the poor.
And Lord, we thank you that we could show true and pure religion, which is to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep ourselves unstained by the world.
Father, thank you, because we recognize that the glory for all of this belongs with you.
It is you at work in this church and you're calling, causing us to will and to do according to your good purpose.
It's your work. And so we give all the glory and all the praise to you. And now we ask,
Lord, that you would come and fill the sanctuary with your presence. We need the moving of your Holy Spirit among us to teach us how to worship and how to praise you from the heart, that we would worship in spirit and in truth.
Come and help us now, Lord. We give this time to you in Jesus name. Amen. Can we stand together?
I'm going to read from Psalm 145. I will extol you, my
God and my king, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day
I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the
Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable.
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
Let's sing together. Bless your name,
O God, each day that I am awake. From dawn to setting sun, your greatness
I'll proclaim. Your glory far exceeds all human thought.
So with each breath I'll bless your name, O God.
Your name will be revered by children yet to come.
As generations sing the wonders you have done.
Your strong and mighty deeds are always near.
O God most high, your name will be revered.
How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
How great is the Lord our God. How great is the
Lord and greatly to be praised.
Your gracious hand provides for all who live and breathe.
Your mercy runs to find the helpless and the weak.
When we call out to you, you hear our cries.
And all our needs your gracious hand provides.
Forever without end, creation will rejoice.
When works of wicked men will finally destroy.
Your power will proclaim to Christ's sins.
And you will reign forever without end.
Lord and greatly to be praised. Amen, amen.
He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, isn't he? He is the mighty one. He is Lord of everything.
He is the great I am. He is the Prince of peace. Let's continue to sing.
You are holy. You are mighty.
You are worthy. Worthy of praise.
I will follow. I will listen.
I will love you. All of my days.
I will seek truth and worship. The King is worthy.
And I will love and adore him. And I will bow down before him.
And I will seek truth and worship. The King is worthy.
You're the Prince of peace. And I will live my life for you.
You are holy. You are holy.
You are mighty. You are worthy.
Worthy of praise. I will follow.
I will listen. I will love you.
All of my days. I will seek truth and worship.
The King is worthy. And I will bow down before him.
You're my Prince of peace. And I will live my life for you.
Amen. Amen.
Lord, we come before you, your chosen people, redeemed because of everything that you've done.
We sing about your greatness and your sovereignty because you sacrificed yourself for us.
We sing and make a joyful noise because of the freedom we enjoy in you. You alone are worthy.
You alone are worthy. See on the hill of Calvary My Savior bled for me
My Jesus set me free Look at the wounds that give me life
Grace flowing from his side No greater sacrifice
What he's done What he's done
All the glory and the honor to the Son My sins are forgiven
My future is heaven I praise God for what he's done
Sing for the freedom he has won
Even death is dead and done His life has overcome
Speak, say the name above all names
Over every broken place He is risen from the grave
Now on the throne of majesty The fathers will complete
He reigns in victory Sing hallelujah to the
King He is worthy to receive All the worship we can bring
What he's done All the glory and the honor to the
Son My sins are forgiven My future is heaven
I praise God for what he's done
Amen You may be seated Father we praise you for what you've done
You sent your one and only Son To die the death that we deserve And to rise triumphant from the grave
Jesus is risen We thank you for what you've done It is marvelous in our eyes
And now Lord we pray that you would do a new work Right here in this sermon God that you by your spirit would help me to say
The words that you want me to say And those of us who have come in this morning
Distracted or even with thoughts that don't come from you We pray in Jesus name that those thoughts would be removed
Lord set your people free Remove the delusions of our minds The wrong ideas that we have believed
We pray that you would cleanse us from those things Through the preaching and hearing of your word
In Jesus name, amen Magdala was a fishing village
About five miles south of Capernaum So picture the Galilean countryside
The Sea of Galilee To the north of Jerusalem And somewhat off to the east
On the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee Was this capital kind of city called
Capernaum And just five miles south was a very small fishing village
Called Magdala Now this is within the bounds of Israel And there are
Israelites living there These are the children of Abraham Who know
God Who have the Torah Who have the teaching And they are obedient, observant Jews Born in the city of Magdala Is a precious little baby
Whom her parents call Mary And Mary grows up As an
Israelite A true child of Abraham But as she grows
Things begin to go awry And we do not know What unfolded to bring about her sad estate
There are many who say that Luke chapter 7 The story of the prostitute
Who comes to Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair Is Mary Magdalene But that is unlikely because Mary Magdalene Is introduced in the next chapter
Chapter 8 and there would have been reference to her name If she would be named the very next chapter
So it's unlikely that she was a prostitute We don't know how But Luke chapter 8 verse 2
Tells us that Mary Magdalene Was possessed by seven demons
As a young lady She was somehow infiltrated and infested by Demons that were absolutely controlling her life
We don't know the particulars of how this came about But we have general guidelines from scripture
Under the Mosaic covenant Blessing was promised for those who obey
There was a blessing associated You will be blessed when you come in And blessed when you go out
Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 6 And conversely Curses were prescribed for disobedience
Deuteronomy 28 Verses 13 and 14
Say you would be the head and not the tail If you go after other gods
In other words, you'll be in control If you're obeying But Deuteronomy 28 20
The Lord will send on you Curses, confusion and frustration
And all that you undertake to do For disobedience
So when Israel is disobedient They will be overtaken by this darkness Curses, confused thinking, deluded minds
And a frustration that encompasses Everything that they undertake to do This was actually owed to worshipping false gods
In Deuteronomy 32 16 and 17 Israel was warned
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods With abominations that provoked him to anger
They sacrificed to demons That were no gods to gods
They had never known So in Deuteronomy 32 verses 16 and 17 There is a parallelism
The first line that says They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods Runs parallel to this idea
That they sacrifice to demons When they worshipped the idols of the nations
The surrounding Canaanite people Those who lived near Israel When they took their idols
And prayed to those idols They were actually praying to demons
They had opened a door Leviticus 17 7 says They shall no longer offer their sacrifices to demons
After whom they have played the harlot To pray to an idol
Is to open a door to a demon It is a spiritual kind of adultery
Playing the harlot By running after strange gods When Israel was betrothed to Yahweh The true
God In the New Testament We see a parallel to this teaching In the first chapter of Romans Romans talks about general revelation
From chapter 1 verses 18 to 23 God's eternal power and his divine nature
Are clearly seen in the things that are made But when people do not honor
God And do not give thanks A lack of thanksgiving and glory given to God A person begins to open themselves up to this darkness
In Romans 1 23 They exchange the glory of the immortal God For images of people
Of men Of birds And of animals So not giving glory to God Not giving thanks
They instead exchange that glory For idolatry Picture Aaron With the children of Israel Moses goes up on the mountain
And he comes back down to find what? They're carrying on They're dancing and playing Around a golden calf
An idol made in the form of an animal And Aaron has a real good excuse, doesn't he?
We threw the gold in the fire And out popped this calf Real believable story there,
Aaron What they had done is They had made an idol In the image of God But see
This opened them up To demons They were not just praying
To this animal In fact, that Leviticus 17 7 passage In the
ESV is translated Goat demons Goat demons
That doesn't sound too encouraging You don't want to run across a goat demon It's not just a demon
It's a demon made in the form of a goat This idolatry
Opens people up to demonic infiltration The next verse in Romans 1 24 and following Says therefore
God gave them over And this is what happens When a person is taken over by a demon
They open a door And then God gives them over To worse and worse infestation
In Romans 1 24 and following It is sexual immorality Lust The lust of the flesh
When indulged Then allow demons to take strongholds In the life And then following in verse 27
And following it says Therefore God gave them over To unnatural passions
Unnatural desires To do what ought not be done For even their women exchanged Natural relations with women
And were inflamed with lust for one another And likewise their men And received in their bodies
The due penalty for their perversion The idea is this homosexual practice This diluted kind of unnatural thinking
Is being given over To worse and worse sexual sin The demon is taking more and more control
And then finally it says again They were given over So you see the theme in Romans 1
Exchanging the glory of God Being given over to more and more control By demons
The person then is malicious Even murderous in the heart
Evil And then there's a list of all forms All manifestations of this demonic stronghold
So in Romans we learn How a person becomes demonized It begins with not being thankful Not giving honor to God And it progresses as demons
Take more and more control Of a person's mind So we don't know the specifics of Mary's case
But we know Deuteronomy 28 -32 Leviticus 17 -7 Romans 1
We know how this happens Demons take a foothold
And that becomes a stronghold To the point where it is possible For someone to be controlled
That's what we mean by possessed Completely taken over by demons Such was
Mary Magdalene Living in Israel In an apostate time
As people were chasing other gods Given over to sexual sin Perhaps prostitution
As the early church fathers thought was the case with her But not necessarily In any case
Very much controlled By seven demons But Isaiah prophesied in chapter 9
Verse 1 That a light Would shine in Galilee In that very region of Magdala Capernaum Along the
Galilean sea A light would come to Galilee And it says even in that verse
Isaiah 9 -1 There shall be no gloom For those who Lived in anguish
Mary Magdalene Like others had lived in anguish Perhaps cutting herself Perhaps controlled by horrifying
Thoughts in her brain that she couldn't shake Controlled by demons Like so many
In apostate Israel A light will shine in Galilee And there will be no gloom
For those who lived in anguish I think Isaiah Might have had a picture of Mary Magdalene in his mind
When he wrote Isaiah 9 -1 A light Shining in Galilee And this of course is none other than Jesus Christ He moves
Into Galilee And casts out demons and heals the sick He has all
Power And all truth A demon cannot stand
In his presence because he is The all powerful creator of the universe The lies
Of the demon have no power In his presence because he is Truth Now in the
New Testament We never have a case of a demonized Person pursuing Jesus Those who are demonized
Are brought to him Or Jesus goes to the Gadarene Who is out in the
Wilderness and among the tombs Acting like an animal It's Jesus who goes to them
In the same way Jesus Goes to Galilee and he Finds Mary Magdalene And in the presence of this dear woman
Controlled and afflicted Oppressed by demons He speaks
Powerful words His word to the Demons inside of her And in that second without Delay those demons have to go
Mary Magdalene was set Free from seven demons Luke chapter 8
Verse 2 John MacArthur gives us a hint of what it would Have looked like in her life
Demonic afflictions Undoubtedly included depression Anxiety unhappiness
Loneliness self Loathing shame Fear and a host of other
Similar miseries in All probability she suffered even Worse torments to such
As blindness deafness insanity Or any of the other disorders Commonly associated with victims
Of demonic possession Described in the New Testament Now we have to be careful
Here not all Physical problems are Demonic whether Blindness or deafness or Paralysis or even mental
Conditions sometimes these Conditions are chemical and physical And not demonic But the marker of demonic
Activity is always Delusional thoughts That contradict
God's word That's always the mark Jesus said in John 844 about the
Pharisees That they are children Of the devil Because the devil
Does not stand in the truth Because there is no truth In him when he lies
He speaks out of his own Character or another translation Puts it this way when
Satan Tells a lie he speaks his Own native language His native language
For he is a liar And the father of lies So demonization
Is marked not always By the extreme like the Gatorine in the tombs sometimes
There is what is called ordinary Demonic Ordinary demonic
The demon that's present is not Manifesting in some bizarre Outward behavior but the person
Demonized like the Pharisees Who looked religious look like They had themselves together
Yet had murder in their hearts all Along desiring to Kill Jesus they looked ordinary
Yet they believed lies Christians Are susceptible to this kind Of demonization
We cannot be possessed by Demons because the seal of the Holy Spirit Ephesians 113 is
Honest we are owned By the Holy Spirit of the living God and yet in our minds we
Can at times be susceptible To demonic oppression Ideas that come from Demons we often think there that These are our own ideas
But they get ingrained in our Habits of thinking And we need to be set
Free by the word of God When Jesus came to Mary Magdalene he set her free
And from That moment she was devoted To him she was
Willing to leave Galilee it was likely Her family was wealthy Because in Luke 8 2
We learned that it was this group of women Including Mary Magdalene that was The financial backing to Jesus And his ministry she was
A woman of means and She could have enjoyed the pleasures of living In that Galilean fishing
Village kind of as the top dog Enjoying the ocean views And spent
Her days that way instead the bible tells Us she went with Jesus she also Followed him she's right
There in Jerusalem at the time Of the crucifixion which means she's Following she's forsaking everything
To go with him she is devoted To the one who set Her free and at the cross
Of Calvary When the apostles fled Except for John There at the foot of the cross
Stood Mary Magdalene Devoted to her lord In the anguish of seeing
The suffering of Messiah she Stood in there when the men Ran she stood in there
She had that kind of love And I think it's because she Remembered what it was like Before him
She remembered her BC When she was tormented before Christ By seven demons
She was willing to die with him Because to identify with him At the foot of the cross
Could have resulted in the same Fate for her she could have been killed She was identifying
With this claimant to the throne She was willing to die Shows What kind of devotion she had and when
They took his body off the cross The New Testament also tells us it was Mary Magdalene that followed
Joseph of Arimathea the rich man And Nicodemus who had come At night now believing when they
Anointed his body and put him in the tomb How did the disciples know where The body was Mary Magdalene And some of the other women were watching right
There she stuck With him in burial So picture this woman
Of pure heart now Of deep devotion And we turn to John Chapter 20 to see
That even a deeply devoted Christian Can be deceived
Mary Magdalene In John 20 11 to 19 Will begin to believe lies again
A darkness Will settle over her mind Even as a Christian as a believer
And she will Preach lies In John 20
Verse 2 She tells Peter And the apostles That his body was stolen
She does not say he rose from the dead She will repeat that twice more In this passage
She has become deluded Now before we read it I want to ask you a question
I think many of us missed this point Were the Were the disciples
Responsible To believe that Jesus would Rise from the dead
They were It was not meant to be a complete surprise
But rather in Faith they were to have taken him At his word
They were supposed to be expecting His resurrection from the dead Just like we here are
Expecting him to come back from heaven Can I prove that of course
Matthew chapter 12 Jesus told them as Jonah Was three days and three nights
In the belly of the great fish So the son of man will be three days And three nights in the heart of the earth
Then rise from the dead He explicitly Said in Matthew chapter 20
That he would be handed over to the Gentiles Mocked, scourged, crucified And on the third day
Rise from the dead He said the same in the book of Mark Luke 24 he reminds
Him of this after he rises from the dead In John chapter 2 Destroy this temple
And in three days I will Raise it back up again By which he was
Referring not to the physical building but To his body He clearly prophesied his resurrection
So Mary Magdalene should have been Walking in faith not by sight
Though she saw him crucified Believing that he would rise From the dead on the third day
So understanding that Let's read how she reports What's happening John 20 11 to 19
Through 18 I'm sorry But Mary stood Weeping Outside the tomb
And as she Wept She stooped and looked into the tomb And she saw
Two angels In white sitting where the Body of Jesus had lain
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 You hear the torment in her voice
Having said this She turned around I'm sorry I skipped ahead Oh no verse 14
Having said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing but she did not Know that it was
Jesus 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 Jesus said to her Mary She turned
And said to him in Aramaic Rabboni which means teacher Jesus said to her do not
Cling to me for I have not yet ascended To the father but go to my brothers And say to them I am
Ascending to my father and your father To my God and your God Mary Magdalene went
And announced to the disciples I Have seen the lord And that he had said
These things to her I think In the reading of this story
We miss the severity Of what's happening In chapter 20 verse 2
Mary Is preaching a lie Did they take his body
Away And bury it someplace else No she has jumped to That conclusion that thought
Entered her mind and lodged Itself as a strong Hold of the mind
And that's why we see it Repeated three times verse 2 Again in verse 13
And then in verse 15 She is saying this Lie again and again because she is
Deluded she's Believing a dark Teaching of demons
Which is also What the Jewish leaders paid the soldiers To say The lie
That Jesus did not rise from The dead but in fact The body was only stolen
And taken away There is delusion In the gap between An empty tomb
And weeping The evidence
That Jesus rose from the dead Is in an empty Tomb a stone
Rolled away the clothing That had wrapped him around His head and around his body the linen strips
Folded neatly On the bench Angels proclaiming
That he is risen as you read Matthew 28 the resurrection account It actually looks
Like Mary Magdalene Heard the angels announcement From the very beginning
Then she ran back ahead Of the others and by the time she got There she reported what they
Had seen and John does not give us everything she said She may have very well said he
Might have risen the angels said He is risen but john records Carefully for us the delusional
Thought from which She needed to be set free What she actually reports
To the disciples when She ran ahead to peter and john Was that they stole his
Body john chapter 20 verse 2 they have Taken the lord out of the tomb
Not so This is her delusion Now the evidence for the resurrection
Of jesus was right before her Eyes were told that When john and peter got there
John outran peter but he was kind of Shy and afraid to go in When peter got there he went in The tomb and he saw the evidence
The cloths folded then John went in and Believed the evidence
The evidence was enough The evidence was there the tomb is Empty he's alive john
Knew it the second he saw It evidently Mary missed the look on his
Face when he came out of the tomb John believed the second He saw it so when he came out of the tomb
His face was beaming He is risen But here's
Mary with opposite countenance Crying Crying her eyes out
Unable to see what is so plainly Before her eyes Verses 12 and 13
It gets worse Now she looks in And she saw two
Angels in white That should have been a sign That jesus is alive
These angels are here and they've Proclaimed but she's talking to Them like they're just ordinary
Because she's so Deluded in her mind sitting where The body of jesus had lain one at The head and one at the feet they
Said to her and notice There's a there's a hint of rebuke In these words
Do you see it Woman why are you Weeping it's not
It's not crushing But there is a hint of rebuke Woman why are you
Weeping that's not the appropriate reaction For an empty tomb with the Stone rolled away and angels proclaiming
John had the appropriate Reaction but she doesn't at this point Woman why are
You weeping i think there's also A veiled Joy behind their question
Because they know what's about to happen She's going to see him Herself but at this point
She's deluded she can't get the wrong Thoughts out of her mind And she answers now imagine this
She preaches A lie to an Angel Not good
She said to them They have Taken away my lord You see
The thing that she said earlier Has now fixated in her brain To the point where this
Is the theory that she's actually believing She's preaching To an angel that the body was taken
Not that he rose They this is the bad guy The delusional thought
Is often a victim narrative The person Who believes that God is holding back from Them the good things that they deserve
This could be with Regard to gender God has
Erred in making me a man The deluded thought Would say that When I'm a woman trapped in a man's
Body Sexuality God made me with these desires that I can't
Control and that I never wanted But I'm just made this way The deluded mind reasons
Like this money I don't have What other people have
God's holding back on me this victim Mentality And here mary has a theory
The bad guys the romans They took the body Just like they crucified him And now they've buried it somewhere else
They're probably desecrating him more I have to defend him I have to come to the rescue
In her deluded mind she's missing The joy of the lord For the sake of a delusion
It is a demonic Doctrine that has entered into her Thinking Verse 14 having said this
She turned around and saw Jesus standing but She did not know that It was jesus
The problem might have been physical In that because She's weeping so much her eyes
Her tears Are blocking the clear Vision she can't even see
Straight to see jesus it could be that His glorified body Is somehow different To where she's not recognizing it there are
Other cases where people didn't recognize Him at first like the disciples on the road To emmaus He's glorified and therefore looks
Different but she doesn't know she's Seeing him and there is A kind of seeing that falls
Short of recognizing jesus Then It says In verse 15 jesus said to her
Again woman Why are you weeping that repetition Is meant to clue you into something here
She's she's getting it wrong she's Deluded 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 This is a
Kind of praying she's Talking to god But she's not humbly
Calmly Seeking his will James says you ask
And do not receive because you ask Wrongly to spend it on your Passions Her prayer here is
Deluded she's not seeing And the only hope for mary Is the same hope
That Delivered her from demons in the First place you see this demon Is trying to come back
This demon that was Once cast away wants to bring Many more like it so that the
Condition of her would be worse Than it was at first In spiritual warfare
Demons don't give up They want to come back in and take A foothold and then a stronghold
And demonize a person And in her own Resources mary is not yet Believing That is the point of john
In the flow of the text Salvation Is a gift
From god Just as he set her Free when she could do nothing to get free
Of these demons it was by his Rebuke that the demons had to go Now there is a
Dispensational change Happening it was Old covenant until jesus
Shed his blood initiating the new Covenant he was buried and then he Rose from the dead the gospel
Includes this information That jesus was Crucified buried and Rose on the third day
She's not yet believing that Jesus rose she doesn't yet have the Gospel In heart and in mind
She needs her eyes Open like everybody listening to this Sermon We need our eyes open to Believe in jesus remember
The teaching the thread That beautiful thread that runs through john John 6
Verse 44 No one comes to The sun unless the
Father draws him and i will raise him Up on the last day You don't have the
Resources to see mary can't See it's like she's blind he's Right there but she thinks he's a gardener
He rose from the dead As all of us should know The evidence is clear
The tomb is still empty to this day And yet many people do not Believe he rose from the dead
Just a gardener She can't see John 6 45
We must be taught of the father The new covenant is that god Himself will teach us
Faith he will open Blind eyes he will call dead Lazarus out of the tomb and give
Life and very Poignantly specifically to What happens right here is john
Chapter 10 verse 3 Turn back with me Because the good
Shepherd Must call the wandering sheep By name and lead
That sheep out John 10 3 And you'll see the
Significance Of what happens In verse 16
Of john 20 when he says Mary You'll see it when we look back
At john 10 verse 3 I'm going to start at verse 1
But verse 3 is the point Jesus Speaking truly
Truly So if you're not paying attention jesus says Listen up amen amen
This you need to hear i Say to you he who does not Enter the sheepfold by the door but Climbs in another way that man
Is a thief and a Robber but he who Enters by the door
Is the shepherd of The sheep The good shepherd To him the gatekeeper
Opens The sheep hear his Voice And he calls his own sheep
By name And leads them out Do you see it
John's picture and the Point of his gospel he has written these things That you may believe and believing
Have life in his name The problem is we are Controlled by demonic oppression
Dead in our trespasses And sins and Unable to see like the blind
Men that he opens their eyes In ourselves we're seeing Him only as a gardener just another
Teacher just another rabbi But when jesus opens
Eyes He Calls us to come and listen He does so by name
The gospel is preached And heralded to all the earth It's a ubiquitous preaching we
Don't withhold it from anyone without Distinction jew and gentile Like we call out jesus
Died and Rose from the dead Repent and believe
The good news we call this to everyone We don't discriminate But unless The good shepherd
Calls your name Awakening faith Calling you out
Drawing you You cannot come This is john's point we see it again in John 17 and now the connection
Back to john 20 verse 16 That's the Significance he's the good
Shepherd and he calls her Name she's Blind she thinks he's a gardener
She thinks they stole his Body she's not yet seen And here
The risen lord says What Mary the good
Shepherd calls her By name that's the Idea She turned to him and said in aramaic
Rabboni Which means teacher she's taught Of god matthew 6
Verse 45 She's taught by the teacher her Eyes are open and she sees
And she believes Now in verse 17 and 18 we Conclude jesus said to her
Do not cling to me Now the Idea here is not that he's rebuking
Her for touching him surely When she sees it's him she runs And she hugs him and she
Won't let go There's a picture in that of her devotion Of her love she was
There at the cross she was there at The grave and now in the resurrected State she does believe and She's never going to let go she's
Clinging but it comes That word cling comes in the Imperfect tense
So rather than being A rebuke for touching him Which would be kind of Like a one time action
Jesus invited That touch there's no problem with that In the perfect tense For example thomas he says
Come see the Where the wounds were touch Feel he was allowed to touch the
Wounds although thomas didn't need that he fell down And said my lord and my god the Issue is not that she was touching the
Resurrected christ it was that She was trying to cling now As if the kingdom
Was now And look at his point Do not cling to me for i have not
Yet ascended to the father But go this is
Not a time of clinging He must ascend He must leave us again and this is what
He's done he ascended to the right hand Of the father leaving mary magdalene And all the disciples
And us here waiting For his return there's coming A time of clinging where we will be in His presence never to be
Separated from the good shepherd But there is this dispensation This church age
Notice i am ascending to My father and your father to my God and your god he's going
Back to the right hand of the father and now Mary must go and She does she went and Announced to the disciples i
Have seen the lord And that he had said these Things to her
Now mary Has been set free again She sees
And she believes her mind is set right And she's preaching not a Lie not a demonic doctrine
But the truth Jesus is risen And everything that He said she's parroting back
To the disciples she's listening now When the father Commended the son at His baptism he said
This is my son At the transfiguration This is my son
Listen to him because peter Was running his mouth we should build Shelters here and camp out
It'll be great the kingdom is here on this Mountain and the father Says this is my son listen
To him Listen to him be quiet and listen Take the
Word of god believe it and Repeat it that's what she's doing In matthew chapter 4
Jesus said man does not Live by bread alone but by Every word that comes from the mouth
Of god we do not need
Exorcists In this church The gifts Of ephesians 4 11
Are apostle Prophet evangelist Pastor teachers
An exorcist might have a power Encounter with the demon and There may be a place for that at times when a
Demon manifests any christian Should rebuke that thing in Jesus name But that demon might very well come
Back again when you're gone The way demons are Overcome is by Truth encounter
Notice that in ephesians 4 11 it is The pastor teacher given to The church so that the
Word would be taught The truth of god's word would be taught And every lie would be
Dispelled Many christians harbor Delusional thoughts that they don't
Know are delusions of demons And the way that These thoughts are put away is by The hearing of the word of god
The word of god is like a sword And it fights Off the lies of the enemy
We are warned in ephesians 4 as well verse 27 do not give the devil
A foothold An opportunity a topone In the greek it means this
Access point Even the smallest room Don't give him a foothold
The previous verse ephesians 4 26 is do not let the Sun go down on your anger
Often Anger in the heart becomes an Access point for a foothold
Which then becomes a stronghold and This is written to christians Church Psychologists today
Will prescribe medicine For delusional Thoughts or In the new psychological freudian
And now postmodern world The psychologist Will affirm the delusion itself
And ask everybody Around the person to do that And they leave a person
In a stranglehold Under the power of Demons The truth of the matter is that demons
Actually are real Mary Magdalene Was possessed by demons prior to Knowing christ even after her
Salvation these dark Thoughts these ingrained
Patterns of thinking began to resurface Just after The resurrection But christ set her free from those
Two and he did so By the power of truth By the word of god
We must do the Same thing to take captive the thoughts That enter our minds Demonic lies are as Old as the fall
Of satan and the Two thirds of angels that went with him Even surrounding
Mary Magdalene there has been a host Of lies that sprung up about her Life two hundred years
After the eyewitness account that We have here in the book of john A deceiver
Deluded by demons Wrote a book that He called the gospel of philip
And another Deceiver still two hundred years After the eyewitness accounts
Wrote the gospel of mary Pretending to be mary magdalene No scholar debates the fact that These are hundreds of years after the fact
And yet Gnostics believed That jesus actually
Had a love affair with Mary magdalene and that there Were children born to them
Myths Surrounding this include That mary magdalene went to france And she threw off all of her clothes
And she lived as a hermit And angels would carry her up into the ether And bring her back
And many people believe this tradition It's resurfacing In these last days in a book
Called the da vinci code Which is just a repackaging Of this demonic lie
Many people in our culture Parrot those you'll even see it on the history Channel And in this book which was a fictional book
The da vinci code many people take that As what actually happened with mary magdalene But the lesson is quite opposite Of that The lesson of mary magdalene
Is about delusional thinking And how the truth of god's word Sets you free
As We approach the last days Second Thessalonians 2 says a strong Delusion will come over the world
A delusion Wrong thoughts That are completely upside down That many people will actually believe
Doctrines of demons As second Timothy 4 1 says
You see it now In the upside down Morality of our culture
Isaiah 5 20 said that Up will be down Light will be darkness
Sweet will be bitter and bittersweet Everything will be upside down What is considered good
Will be called bad And what is bad and sinful Will be celebrated Do you see this happening in our culture
As we approach the end Soon then there will be the revelation Of an anti christ
The opposite Of christ One who exalts himself But truly is possessed by the devil
Did you know that they're actually going to celebrate Anti christmas when the anti christ Appears They're going to celebrate anti christmas
Two witnesses Will be preaching the truth of god's word in Jerusalem calling for repentance
And faith and when the anti Christ kills them And their bodies are dead in the street
All of the world will see it And they will begin to celebrate Christmas anti christmas
By the giving and receiving Of gifts Celebrating The death of the two witnesses
At that time those who kill Will think they offer service To god it's everything upside
Down Now the good news Of these things is that prior to The seven year tribulation
God has not destined the church for wrath But we will be raptured we will be Caught up to meet the lord in the air
We will be kept safe during that time And when christ comes to bring vengeance On this earth we come with him
Riding behind his white horse So we have nothing to fear of these Coming times but notice
That we live through the birth pangs The world is Becoming increasingly deluded
And so we must Very much stand upon The truth of god's word Take the sword of the spirit
And dispel the lies Church the battles that We are fighting the truth war that we
Are in is not Just flesh and blood The ideologies
That are being pushed in our culture Are demonic in nature And that they are taking root
In many minds And on a less severe
Dramatic level Many christians also Believe deluded thoughts
Thoughts that come into your mind That seem to make sense As mary
Really believed for a time that the body Had been stolen Thoughts like this come into Your mind and church
This is why it is so important That you take captive every thought And make it obedient to christ
You cannot just let your mind run Wild and believe whatever comes in Because very often demons
Are trying to take hold of Your brain of your mind But these are defeated
Foes of whom we Should not be afraid Greater is he who is in us
Than he who is in the world So it's time for christians to open the Word daily and subject
Your thoughts to the Mind of god read the Word test the spirits to See if they be of god
And recognize That even christians can Be deluded by wrong thinking But the freedom of that Comes from the unadulterated
Pure word of truth Let's pray Father god we thank you for the story of Mary Magdalene and lord help us to Love you the way she did
She didn't need to be encouraged To spend time in the word She was clinging
To you her whole life was Devoted to you Make us like that Help us to love as deeply
As she did your word says that Those who have been forgiven much Love much open
Our eyes to see how much we have truly Been forgiven that we would Love you like mary magdalene
Did and as she does As she's clinging to you now in Heaven lord there
Are many deluded thoughts in this room I don't know them each one of us has The privacy of our own minds
But each one of us At times believes lies We have delusional thoughts That come from demons and we ask
Right now lord that you would set your people Free Deliver us again
Just like you delivered us When you saved us Set us free from Demonic thoughts
That lead to Anxiety and depression Set us free
From the lies of the enemy That would corrupt Our minds
Our minds belong to You let us have the mind of christ We pray that by the preaching
Of the word today and the hearing of the word You would change How we think And you would send us back to the
Word of truth daily Daily to listen
To the son of god For father you said this Is my son listen To him
Help us now lord set us free And lord if there are any demons in this room Attaching to Any person that came in We do pray against those
Spirits in Jesus name And that the wrong Thoughts that came in with them must
Go in the light of truth In Jesus name amen Let's stand together
Music I believe in christ
Risen From the dead He now reigns
Victorious His kingdom knows no end Through His resurrection
Death has lost It's hold I know
On that final day I'll rise as Jesus Rose On that day
We will see you Shining brighter than the sun
On that day We will know you As we lift your
Voice as one Till that day We will praise you for your never
Ending grace And we will keep on Singing on that Glorious day
Music What a blessed hope
Though now Tired and worn We will spend
Eternity Around our saviors throne Though We grieve our losses
We Grieve not in vain For we know
Our crown of glory Waits beyond the grave On That day
We will see you Shining brighter than the sun On that day
We will know you As we lift our Voice as one Till that day
We will praise you For your never ending Grace and we will
Keep on singing On that glorious Day Music Hallelujah Hallelujah What a day it will
Be For at home With you my joy
Is complete As I Run into your arms
Open wide I will see My father Who is waiting
For me Hallelujah What a day
It will be For at home With you my joy
Open wide I will see My father who is
Waiting for me Hallelujah My father who
Is waiting for me Hallelujah On that day
Keep on singing On that glorious Day On that day
Keep on singing On that glorious Day And we'll keep on singing
On that glorious Day Are you able to come back at 6 o 'clock this evening?
Please do. The installation of a pastor is a big deal in the ministry. It has been for 2000 years of church history and I would really encourage you to come be a part of that 6 o 'clock this evening for Tim Robinson's installation.
We close with this. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality.
Greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ. Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.
To put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.
To put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Go in peace. This is my father's world
Of birds their carols raise Hear their makers praise
This is my father's world
He shines in all that's fair In rustling grass
I hear Him as He speaks to me Every word