From a Mess to a Messenger (John 20:11-18)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, "'But we did not yield in subjection to them "'for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel "'would remain with you.'".

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

The Empty Tomb and Mary Magdalene’s Grief

Well, good morning. I would invite you to take a Bible and open it to John chapter 20 as we continue our relentless march through the gospel of John. In fact, by some estimates, we'll finish this by the time I'm about 75.

Just a couple of weeks, in other words. What was the greatest transformation in history? And when you wanna find these things out, you used to go to Google. Now you go to DuckDuckGo because you don't want everybody knowing your business.

If you didn't get that, they're watching you, okay? One historian said that it was, the greatest transformation was Europe. And in this sense, the pre-industrial revolution, Europe was very agrarian, very farmer oriented.

And after the industrial revolution, everybody, for the most part, lived in cities, had factory jobs and all those kinds of things. And it changed the economy. And then I saw that PBS had a documentary about great transformations.

And surprisingly, it was about evolution, about the incredible diversity of life here on earth. When I read that one, it seriously, I just thought, I instantly went, how many of you have seen, everybody's seen this meme, you know, of Willy Wonka, and he just kind of puts his hand on his, or his chin on his hand and goes, "'Please tell me about that.'".

And I'm like, oh yes, I'd love to hear about, you know, how escargot came from, you know, a single cell or whatever. But I found a list of 125 transformational leaders. And I thought, this might be helpful.

And then I saw one of the names on there, Simon Bolivar. And for those of you who know your South American history, raise your hand. Okay, very famous. Andrew Carnegie, another good one. Industrialists in America, Winston Churchill.

And you know what? Even Jesus made the list of transformational figures. And you might think, oh, that's a pretty good list then, maybe. Oh yeah, sure, till you get to, how about this one? Tyra Banks, 125 people in history for transformation.

And you're going to pick Tyra Banks. All I can say is the internet let me down. I'm changing search engines, going back to Google. But this morning, this morning, we're going to see a magnificent transformation take place in the life of a young woman.

Right here in the pages of scripture, talking about Mary Magdalene. Let's read our text this morning. John chapter 20, verses 11 to 18. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look 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. 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.

Now the gospel of John was written so that we might know that Jesus is the son of God. And that by knowing that, by believing in that, we might have eternal life. And in this passage today, we see what a difference Jesus Christ can make.

And the last time we were in John was actually, for those of you who are keeping track, and I know Bob Muto is, was Reformation Day weekend. While the rest of you pagans were celebrating Halloween, we were in John celebrating the Reformation Day and the resurrection.

If you recall, I read this quote then, and it's just as apropos now from G .I. Packer. Christianity rests on the certainty of Jesus' resurrection as a space-time occurrence in history. In other words, it actually happened.

All four gospels highlight it. Acts insists on it, and Paul regarded the resurrection as indisputable proof that the message about Jesus as, listen, judge and savior is true. This morning, we're going to continue looking at the resurrection, or more correctly, the aftermath of the resurrection, specifically how the Lord interacted with the disciples after he rose from the grave.

And I have three Ms for you. She might be able to tell from the title. Those are two. I could have had all three in there, but I didn't. I have three Ms for you. Number one, a mess. Number two, a messenger.

And number three, a message. That almost sounds kind of nice. A mess, a messenger, and a message. And if we look at kind of what John's doing now, is he's building the case for Jesus as the son of God.

These are kind of what I would call his closing arguments. He's bringing in his final witnesses, his last evidence to kind of make his case. And what could be better than an eyewitness to the resurrection, Mary Magdalene, and seeing what an effect seeing the risen savior had on her.

But first we have to see her as a mess because that's what she was. That's the common use of the term, right? When somebody is just a complete wreck, we say that person's a mess. While the disciples we saw last time, in I think verse 10, had returned to their homes, we see this in verse 11.

But Mary, but, in other words, in contrast to the disciples, because they'd been there first, they'd seen the tomb was empty, and then they'd gone home. Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And this isn't some kind of, you know, sniffle, grab a Kleenex, just kind of dab at your eyes.

That's not what they do in the Middle East. This verb is the kind of loud wailing and crying and just tears and snot and everything coming out because she's into it, right? Those of you who are laughing who know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

She'd come to the tomb, if you remember, to finish the preparation of Jesus' body. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, these formerly secret disciples, these disciples that were in fear for their leadership positions, had received permission from Pilate to bury his body, and they'd brought all these bandages and all these ointments to put on the body, and then probably hadn't had time to finish it.

And so the women had gone early in the morning to finish wrapping the body of Jesus, preparing it for burial. She was shocked to find the stone rolled away from the tomb. And Peter and John, if you recall, were faster to the tomb, they beat her there.

But whether they talked to her after that or not, we don't know, because it's not recorded for us. And what could they possibly have told her that would have been of use? Because we read in verse nine, for as yet talking about Peter and John, they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.

They didn't understand the resurrection, all they knew was the body was gone. But again, returning to our text here, verse 11, talking about Mary, here she is bawling her eyes out. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

Now, somebody even asked me after the first service, well, is one at the head and one at the feet, does that represent the cherubim on the mercy seat or on the top of the tabernacle? I don't know. I mean, there's a bunch of symbolism that people try to import into this.

In fact, as I was reading through all the commentaries, people said, well, white represents holiness and purity and the radiance of God. And okay, that might all be true. But I think if we just think about this as an eyewitness account, Mary looks into the tomb, a tomb that's probably not well lit, right?

No electricity, they just flip on the switch. Maybe there's some lamps in there, but it's not like daylight. What does she see? The radiance of these white clothes. What it should tell us is these are not men in the sense that they're not out working in the rough and tumble world and everything like that with these perfectly white garments.

These are angels who don't get caught up in all that. Is it true that they're holy? Yes, but I don't know that that has anything to do with the white garments. It's just the bright light that she sees.

Now, why were the angels there? Why were they in the tomb? Why were they at the head and the foot of the bed or the place where Jesus' body lied? We don't know, but what do we know about angels? They ministered to Jesus in times of difficulty.

Is it hard to believe that since we know this, that angels long to look into the things of the gospel, they long to see how people are saved, that they would show up at this greatest event in human history?

I don't think that's hard to believe at all. In fact, Hendrickson said the absence of angels would have been surprising. Would have been shocking if none of them showed up, if they were just like, not that big.

I mean, there might've been a competition for tickets. I don't know. But there's certainly a focus on the resurrection and the angels would want to have been there. And look at what they say in verse 13.

They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Now, there are a number of things. I mean, S. Louis Johnson said this. He said, that question, why are you crying? He said, that is a mistake that many men have made.

Asking a woman why she's crying. Now it's possible, many times I've met that mistake. It's possible that they were trying to be empathetic, right? Like, oh, what's the matter? Tell me all about it. But it seems more likely that they, understanding what's taken place, that Jesus is raised from the dead, right?

That he's no longer in the tomb and it's a good thing. In fact, it's the greatest thing that's ever happened and they're asking her, why are you crying? What is wrong with you? You should be rejoicing.

You should be celebrating. Jesus is no longer dead, he's risen just as he said. Every sin of every believer has been paid for and we know that now because he's no longer in the tomb. He told you, he told the disciples many times that he would rise on the third day and he had.

But Mary Magdalene is so consumed by her grief. She's so consumed by her mission. She's there to do something specific that she thinks it's terrible that he's gone. Mary's response shows what she was thinking about.

Verse 13 again, the second half of it. She said to them, they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Well, what do you lay, a dead body? She does not understand that the resurrection has taken place.

She wants to find him. And in her mind, it's possible that even Jesus' body has been stolen, but at least he's been moved. She knows that. She's certain of that. When we think about it, just from Friday night, seeing the crucifixion, seeing his disfigured beaten body up on the cross, she was there.

From that to Saturday and all the morning that would have gone on then. And now Sunday morning, she goes there. She's on a mission and the body is gone. She's sad. She's tired. She's not operating at full capacity.

She's just weeping and wailing. She's frantic. She has one purpose. She wants to serve Jesus one last time, just to be near him. Verse 14 says, having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

Now there are some mysteries here, right? Why did she turn? First of all, she's looking at angels. You ever seen angels? I mean, I would be like that, right? So why did she turn? A lot of theories, but John doesn't really tell us.

What seems most likely? That the angels do something to turn her attention behind her, right? Maybe they bow. Maybe they make some kind of gesture towards Jesus. Why? Because angels in the presence of God do that because they're not sinful.

They know their place. But she turns. She doesn't know that it's Jesus. Well, how could she not know that it's Jesus? She just saw him on Friday. Again, John doesn't say. Maybe it was her tears. Maybe it was her belief that Jesus was dead.

After all, no one had ever come back from the dead, right? Except for Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead a few days, and Jesus says, come out, Lazarus, and he comes out. Everybody knew it was Lazarus. But to give Mary some credit here, she wasn't the only one not to recognize Jesus after the resurrection.

I mean, we can think of several sketches. There's the disciples on the road to Emmaus, right? And Jesus even comes alongside and is talking to him and explains about himself, right? And they still don't get it.

He appears to the disciples on other occasions, and they're not really sure it's him, or they don't know initially that it's him. Even in Luke, in the account of the road to Emmaus, it seems that they were, it says, in fact, in verse 16, of Luke 24, their eyes were kept from recognizing him, right?

Why was that? The power of God. So maybe it's the power of God in this sense, or in this case, or maybe it's just everything that she's got going on in her eyes, and who knows? But Jesus doesn't look exactly the same as he did before.

How could he? He was marred beyond that of what anyone else had ever suffered. Going back to the text in verse 15, Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Just like the angels did. Then whom are you seeking?

When he asked her, why are you weeping? I mean, there's certainly an emphasis there, right? In other words, scripture, and John does this often, if something is repeated, there's a reason for it. I think the reason is, again, to underscore the idea, you shouldn't be crying.

But then he says, whom are you seeking? He says, whom, not what. She wanted to know where a body was, and the irony is, of course, that she's looking directly at the body she's looking for. Except it's not prone, it's not laying somewhere, it hasn't been dragged off.

He is walking and talking and right in front of her. Back to verse 15, 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.

Now, why a gardener? Why would she think that? Do you have a gardener in your funeral place, whatever, your tomb? Maybe, if you've been to some nice cemeteries, do they have gardeners? Somebody has to cut the grass and make things look nice.

And we know what? That this is the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea. This is a nice place. So it wouldn't be out of the question for there to be a gardener there, for somebody to show up to take care of the grounds, especially the day after the Sabbath, right?

To make sure everything's in proper order. Maybe he had to move the body in order to do something in the tomb. She doesn't know. So she very nicely asks, if you tell him, tell me where he is, you know, not, I won't press charges, but just kind of, just tell me where he is, that's all I wanna know.

She was looking for something very specific. And, you know, have you ever been in that mode where you're just kind of, you're looking for something, you're looking and you get more and more frantic and you just can't find it, you need it.

Like, I don't know, you need your notes right before a sermon, you can't find them anywhere. And you're walking all through the house and your wife goes, you know, did you check the printer? Lo and behold, there they are, you know, that kind of thing.

It's amazing how we can just zero in on something and forget the most obvious solution. Will this gardener help her? Now note, it seems that she turns away from Jesus and we'll see why I say that in a minute here.

Maybe back toward the tomb, maybe she just wants to have another look, you know, am I really sure the body's gone? Or maybe it's just somewhere else in the tomb, and, you know, because I haven't really gone in there and I just saw these two brightly clad figures, maybe the body's somewhere else.

Mary is sad, she's frantic, she's crying her eyes out, she doesn't even recognize Jesus. Mary is a mess. But secondly, we see the messenger, the messenger. Mary Magdalene is about to be transformed. Verse 16, Jesus said to her, Mary.

Now our English translations, I don't care what you have, they really fail to convey, I think, two things here. One is he says her name, not in Greek, certainly not in English, King James proponents, I apologize.

He says Miriam, he says her name in Aramaic. And I can't help but think that he says it in a soft, gentle, shepherdly way. It's a voice that she knows well, that she's heard many, many times. And this is really a perfect exemplar of what Jesus said in John chapter 10.

My sheep hear what? My voice. They know me. He says, Miriam. She's not clueless anymore. She knows. All of her sorrow, all of her emotion, all of her tiredness, all of her care disappear with a single word, her name.

And here's why I said she turned earlier because look, text tells us she turned and said to him, so she was facing away from him. She'd been facing him and then she turned away from him. Now she turns back and said to him in Aramaic, he talked to her in Aramaic.

She responds in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. How many times do you think that exact exchange has taken place where he says Miriam and she says Rabboni? Adventurers say it happened many, many times.

Again, just think what she's going through. He was dead. She saw it with her own eyes. But that voice, Miriam, she knows. From utter despondence to complete joy. And now we get to the controversial part.

We've had the fun. Now the controversial part. Verse 17, Jesus said to her, do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to the father. Do not cling to me. What does Jesus mean? I think it's fair to say she turned, faced Jesus, said Rabboni.

The most logical thing would be for her to do what? We see it over and over again after the resurrection. What do people do? They worship him, fall at his feet. She's probably grabbing his feet. Speculation, but it's probably a pretty good one.

So is he telling her, after just saying Miriam, get your grubby mitts off me. I tell the grandkids, you know, they start playing with something I want to eat or something and I say, get your grubby mitts off my food.

Is that what he's saying? No, absolutely not. Is he trying to stress the fact that he's holy and she's not? I don't think so. I mean, a little bit later in the chapter, what does he do with Thomas? Thomas, you don't believe?

Go ahead, touch me, stick your hand on my side. It's not a matter of him becoming defiled because by the way, he can't be defiled. So how do we resolve this? I think it's helpful to look at the second part of this.

When Jesus says that he's ascending, what is the significance of him ascending? First of all, we know that he's not going to ascend for 40 days, right? That happens in the first chapter of Acts. Luke tells us, Luke, who's very careful and meticulous about everything, bases all of his writings on eyewitness testimony, says Jesus was with the disciples for 40 days.

And I'm gonna read Acts 1, 9 through 11 just so that we can get this fixed in our heads. He says, Luke writes this, as they, the apostles, were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

That's the ascension. I've not yet ascended. I think that's what he's talking about. And let's just explore that a little bit more. Why does Jesus ultimately ascend? In other words, here's what commentators say and what I think is right.

She's holding on to him, why? Because she thinks he's risen from the grave like Lazarus, and he's going to be back with the disciples, happy days are here again, school's back in session, we've got the teacher.

We're going back to the way things were. Things have been reversed. But what happens when Jesus ascends? Hebrews 7 .25. Consequently, because he's ascended, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.

Since he always lives to make intercession for them, that's what he's doing. He's our eternal intercessor. He's intercessing for believers. And what's worse, I think Jesus is correcting Mary's thinking.

She wants the good old days and he's saying, no, better days are coming. And I'm going to leave and show you that better days are coming. And there's strong evidence for that right here in verse 17 when Jesus says, for I have not yet ascended, that word ascended, that verb there is in the perfect tense.

I love perfect tense verbs and that's why I like to talk about them. Why? Because they're not all that common and they're very specific. They're a one-time event with, as you all know, because you've heard me say it a billion times, million, 10 ,000, 500, one-time event with ongoing effects.

It's permanent. When he ascends, he's going to ascend permanently. In shorthand, it's better for her and all other believers, including the disciples, if Jesus leaves. Why? How do we know that? Because he told them that.

What did he say in John chapter 16? He said, it's to your advantage that I leave because when he leaves, what's he going to do? He's going to send the comforter, the Holy Spirit to be with them. After the resurrection, until the ascension, Jesus just kind of shows up.

He pops in and then he leaves. John doesn't tell us, even in this visitation or in other visitations, what Jesus does after that, where he goes, why? Because the purpose here is not to, or is to make explicit that Jesus is not going back to the way things were.

He's not just hanging out with the disciples all the time. He'll show up and then he'll leave. He'll show up and then he'll leave until he finally ascends. He visits them for 40 days and then he permanently ascends.

Mary Magdalene as the First Messenger of the Resurrection

So she's been transformed from a mess to a messenger. And now she's given the message. Point number three, the message. Because of the resurrection, she gets revelation. Now you can't deliver a message without, well, I guess you can nowadays.

You can text or send an email, but you can't. In those days, you couldn't deliver a message without a messenger. But it's so odd that it's Mary Magdalene. Why? Sorry, because she's a woman. By rabbinic law, a woman could not even testify in a trial.

She was not considered a reliable witness. So why not John? Why not Peter? We don't know. John doesn't tell us. But here's the thing about having Mary be this messenger. If Christianity were concocted, if it were invented by these men, by these very clever men who abandoned their teacher, if it were invented by them, and they wanted to first appeal to Jews, which they do, they would not have a woman as a witness.

They would have made themselves the witnesses. They would have not been so foolish as to have the word about a resurrected Savior coming from a woman. Now, what message does Jesus give Mary? First of all, he says that believers are brothers of Jesus.

My brothers, Jesus calls the male disciples. My brothers. Listen to what Hendrickson says. He says, my brothers, not, listen, those habitual quarrelers, right? The guys who wanted to fight about who was gonna sit at my right hand.

Those men who promised to remain loyal to me no matter what would happen, but who, when the crisis arrived, left me and fled. Those men who, with one exception, John, the beloved apostle, were not even present at Calvary when I was laying down my life for them.

None of that. Instead, my brothers, those whom I acknowledge as members of my family, those who share the inheritance with me, those whom I love, tell my brothers. Tell me they wouldn't be encouraged when they heard that.

Jesus told me to tell you, and he said, I should call you brothers. Romans 8, 17 says this. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Hebrews 2 .11, for he who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Every believer is a brother or sister in Jesus Christ. But does that mean we're on par with Jesus?

You know, I've said this before, and that just as an aside, you know, people often say, Mormons believe that Lucifer is the spirit brother of Jesus. And I go, you know what's even more shocking to me?

They believe that I was the spirit brother of Jesus. At least Lucifer was an exalted angelic being. Me? Not so much. But we're not the equivalent of Jesus. He calls us brothers, but we are his siblings, his brothers and sisters by virtue of his death.

We're adopted because the father has drawn us and the Holy Spirit has regenerated us, right? Al Martin said this. He said, the legal documents of our adoption as sons and daughters into the family of God are signed, listen, with the blood of incarnate deity.

In other words, Jesus Christ, truly God, truly man gave up his life, why? So that we might be adopted by the father. How do I know that there are categorical differences, that there's a difference between us and Jesus?

I mean, besides everything the Bible says, listen to this text here in John chapter 20. Jesus says, I am ascending to my father and your father, not I am ascending to our father. Well, why not? Because Jesus Christ is the son of God by his nature.

He has always been the son of God. One commentator said it this way. The disciples must never forget that whereas his sonship to the father is by nature and right, theirs is only by adoption and grace in and through him.

That is to say Jesus. And therefore he speaks of my father and your father, not of our father. The Bible calls or scholars call this, theologians call this, and it's not in the Bible, but this idea that Jesus is always the son or always the son of God, eternal generation.

What does that mean? It means that Jesus is eternally God, the second person of the Trinity. I was reading the Athanasian Creed in between services and other times here this morning. You must believe in the Trinity in order to be saved.

You must believe it. What does it mean? It means that God is the father, Jesus is the son, and the spirit is the spirit. The three are different. They are equal. They have different functions, but they're equal in substance and power.

The father is not the son, the son is not the father, and neither one is the spirit, and the spirit is not either one of those. But there is no, there are a lot of heresies going around about Jesus right now, but he's not eternally subordinate.

And it's unfortunate that some of our systematic theologies say that, that he was always subordinate to the father. It's not true. He submitted in his humanity. That's what he did. But it's important that we note that God is not three different modes, that he is in fact three different persons, father, son, and spirit.

There's no hierarchy of power, but there is a difference in their function. There is a difference in their function. And it's the nature of God to have always been three persons. The father generates the son, the father and son send the spirit.

This is the nature of the Trinity. Theologians also say that the son was eternally begotten, which means there was never a time that he did not exist. And there was never a time that he was not the son.

He's not created. He did not become the son. He was not adopted. There are all these heresies out there. Why am I stressing it? Because there are a lot of heresies. And I say all that to underscore the gulf between Jesus and his siblings.

He is the first of many brethren, but it doesn't mean he's the first of many equals. He is the preeminent one. He is the way that all of us are adopted. Hendrickson said this. He said, the same God who is the father of Jesus is also the father of the disciples.

It is to this God and father that Jesus is ascending. So now that the mess that Mary was has been transformed into the messenger with a message that the disciples need to hear, we read that she goes and she is obedient.

Verse 18, Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he said these things to her. In other words, how do you think John, the beloved apostle gets these things? How does he get these truths?

She told him, she's an eyewitness. Can you imagine you're Mary Magdalene, just imagine that for a moment for the guys will be a little harder, but you walk in to this room where I think the disciples are probably doing what?

They've just been to, at least Peter and John have been to the tomb and now they're back. And I don't think they just went back to life as normal and thought, well, it'd be a good time to have breakfast or something like that.

Maybe we should go to Starbucks, have a latte. I think they were probably trying to figure out what was going on. Why was the tomb empty? Why was the stone moved? And here comes Marian and says, I have seen the Lord, not I have seen his body, but I have seen the Lord.

And then she tells him all these things. She was transformed from a mess to a messenger with an important message by the power of Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to do something I've never done here before and it's not an altar call.

So relax, ushers don't have to come up here and remove me. We received a note this week. Patty found it in the lobby and I'm going to, I'm not going to read it, but I want to just summarize this person's points because I think it's apropos to this message.

It flows with the gospel. Listen, I don't fully understand what Christ offers me. This person wrote. I have awful thoughts and doubts that scare me. I try to do good, but I'm not perfect. I do love the Lord, but I don't have faith in him.

I need prayer. And I want to talk to that person, whoever it is. And I really don't know. We tried to find out, we couldn't figure it out. If I could have figured out, I would address them. So I'm doing that now.

Well, let's talk about what does Jesus offer? A full pardon for all sin, past, present, future. His death on the cross secures forgiveness for all who believe. And listen, we even heard this morning. What else does he offer?

The right to be a co-heir with him, right? Entrance into heaven, all the riches. His perfect life grants the righteousness that we need to get into heaven to all who believe in him. It also offers, he also offers the unconditional love of the father because all who trust in Jesus are in Christ Jesus.

He looks at us and he cannot love us more or less because then he loves Jesus because he sees Jesus when he looks at us. Those in Christ were chosen by the father and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Again, the Trinity at work.

Person says they have awful thoughts. Well, so don't I. You have doubts. So do I. Then again, so did Peter. So did Paul. So did John. So did every human being who has ever lived except for one, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You're not perfect. Good. If you were perfect, Jesus came not to, the great physician didn't come to heal the fine, the healthy, but those who are sick, those who need a physician. He came to seek and save those who are lost, meaning they understand their lostness.

If you say I'm not perfect, good, because only one person ever was the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you say you love Jesus, but you don't have faith in him. That's tough. That's really tough because you cannot love the Jesus of the Bible.

You cannot study him. You cannot read scripture and say, I love Jesus, but not this Jesus. That's a worldly idea, right? If you love Jesus Christ, you trust him. Faith in him does not mean you're perfect.

It means that your desires change. It can be slow. It could be almost imperceptible, but your allegiance changed. You feel differently about your sin. Jesus loves the unlovable. He forgives those who seem beyond forgiveness.

He offers rescue from hell, and hell is a very real place where those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, those who do not trust in him, those who do not say, you know what? I believe in Jesus Christ and his life, his death, and his resurrection.

That's where people who don't believe in Jesus go. Finally, this person says, you need, or they need prayer. I'm like, you need prayer? Everybody needs prayer. It's one of the things I'm most encouraged about about our church.

We like to pray for one another, and I'm going to pray for this person right now. Not only am I going to pray for him or her, but I would really honestly invite this person to contact me anytime. Get my email address.