Evidence Which Demands a Response

Well, the title for our main message today is evidence which demands a response. Evidence which demands a response. And if you have your Bibles here, if you have them at home, those watching in, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to John 20. We're going to turn to the Gospel of John, and we're going to begin in verse 1. As you turn there, and before we begin to read, as I was preparing this message, I believe that I can say that it might be a rare thing if we don't have at least maybe one, maybe two of us here are watching online who are at least questioning the story of the resurrection. And if not questioning, perhaps there's maybe one or two of us here who are at least struggling with their belief in it. And if that's not true, if there's not anyone here, I can say for certainty that I absolutely receive at least one, two, maybe a handful of calls every year of an individual on the other line on the other side of the phone that says, that's perhaps not part of our fellowship, that says you have to be out of your mind, you and your fellowship to believe this whole notion of the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death. And they expressed to me that, you know, to take it to heart these things of this story of Jesus Christ resurrection, which we come to in John 20, it is just a remarkable thing they will say that you people can believe such a far-fetched idea. But often when I hang up from those phone calls, I actually have a great deal of sympathy for those individuals who say that because as a preacher of God's Word, I know that there is the kind of preaching, there is the kind of teaching of the Bible, which is so substantially emotional and or so patently anti-intellectual that comes from much of mainstream Christian pulpits. And it actually contributes to this whole idea and unbelief of the resurrection. They hear the kind of message where it's solely emotional, that they make the connection that you really have to dismantle the powers of deduction. You have to just dismiss the power of any kind of logic to get to this whole thought of these matters of the resurrection. And this notion actually is growing more and more in contemporary thought. But in fact, the Bible calls out to us to do just the opposite. And in fact, the Bible puts forth that it would be a great mistake to suppose that faith and reason are incompatible, or to suppose that faith and logic are incompatible.

And it actually is a great insult, I think I can say, for those who are here, who are more built in such a way to uphold logic and to uphold reason, even considering these matters of the resurrection, it's actually a great insult for someone to come to you and say, faith and reason are incompatible. You know, to say to you, a person who deals with mathematics or science, they use logic and deduction. But if you want to get into the whole realm of Christian faith, in this whole matter of the resurrection, of course, you just have to check your brain at the door, you know, put your brain under the pulpit to be ready. And to punctuate that idea, there was actually an American journalist who had a very well-known quote with regards to this. They were an opponent to Christian faith. It was an individual by the name of Mention, expressed it this way. This is how they defined biblical faith. Quote, biblical faith, it is the illogical belief in an occurrence of the improbable.

It's an illogical belief in an occurrence of the improbable.

But again, that assertion, it is just so flimsy when it comes to the Bible, when you read your Bible. Because any of us who know our Bible, we know the Bible is constantly asking us to think. And it's constantly asking us to reason and consider what we're reading. For example, Jesus says, for example, I know you're worrying about a lot of things, but have you considered the birds? And have you considered that birds don't worry?

Jesus even said, you know, I know you look good, you think you look good in your clothes, but have you ever seen the flowers of the field? I tell you to consider that even Solomon, in all of his outfits, never looked good as the flowers of the field.

And even in those type of statements, what Jesus is doing, he's asking them to logically argue from the lesser to the greater. You see, if God, who created the universe, looks after the birds in the fields, would you consider that he's going to look after you? Don't you think, you know, would you consider? If you begin to look for it, the Bible is always asking us to think and reason and logic and to deduce based on the evidence which is before us. It never asks the believer to check their brains at the door.

Never. The whole Bible is essentially full of asking us to think and consider deeply these things. And here in the Gospel of John, chapter 20, we have this narrative of the resurrection. And I'll tell you this narrative that we're about to read. I just want you to note it's going to be full of logic.

It's going to be full of observations. It's going to be full of deductions, full of evidence, evidence presented to the hearer to consider with the end result coming to that reader and believer that they will then believe from the evidence they will make the connection and it will lead them to faith. So let's think about the evidence here that's presented to us of this empty tomb and the eyewitness and evidence of Jesus Christ's resurrection.

Let's read John, chapter 20, and let's read all the way from verses 1 through 18 here. The Apostle John records here. Now, the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.

Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, the other one, stooping down and looking in, saw the lennon-cloth lying there, yet he did not go in. But then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb, and he saw the lennon-cloth lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the lennon-cloth, 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. Verse 11, the scene now moves to Mary. Verse 11, But Mary stood outside 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 and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they, the angel, said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

And she said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Verse 14, Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Verse 15, Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing him to be a 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. And she turned and said to him, Rabonie, 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. And verse 18, Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things to her. Let's stop there.

Well, again, we have John's description here of the events. And he begins with this description, referring to the early morning hours we see here. This would be the early morning hours of what we would call Sunday. You know, Jesus had already been in the ground three days, three nights, had risen just before sundown on the Sabbath the previous day. So Mary comes while it was still dark there. Now, if you come to a passage like this, and you're examining this record, this account from John, and if you come with any skepticism, right up front, it's difficult to know what to do with Mary and the women here. You know, if this gospel record was manufactured or was fabricated, it's hard to imagine that the writers of this so-called invented story would decide to make the foundational witnesses women. Why? Well, because women at this point in society, they would have had no status at all, unfortunately. And there would really be no willingness on the part of the male population to grant them, at this point, any authority to be any kind of accountable witness of anything, really. But nevertheless, John here and the other gospel writers, in all their recordings, you will find them recording that it is women who make this discovery. And it is these women who Jesus appears to first. So you have to say this is quite fascinating here, because again, at that time, women's testimony would have been suspect, and it would have been irrelevant to many at that time. But as the evidence, as the record goes, it is Mary of Magdala who went to the disciples with this news. There in verse 18, she gives this testimony. She says, I have seen the Lord there. So this is the claim. Now this is Mary of Magdala, or Mary Magdalene, as we've come to to refer. And her eyewitness testimony is just quite staggering here. And as we begin to look at this evidence, you know, one of the one of the questions that really came to my mind, really at the beginning here, is just to see the transformation in Mary, you know, to ponder and consider how she went from they had, they have, whoever they is, they've stolen his body, the grave robbers, to go from that all the way in a pretty short period of time to I have seen the Lord and I bear testimony to that fact. What is it that led Mary, based on the evidence, to make such a dramatic claim in such a short period of time after having such a a a misconclusion at the beginning? Well, this is what we're going to look at today. We want to trace out and and look at the record of evidence here and go through the progression here. We want to go through this journey and reviewing the evidence with Mary. And our hope in the end is that after a consideration of the evidence that we too will come to, like John, believe. And also we too will come to be able to proclaim with a depth of conviction we too have seen the Lord, at least in a greater way in our mind's eye and our hearts. Now, it's important for us to realize that John here chooses to turn the camera lens exclusively on this one woman, Mary of Magdalene. Although we know that Mary was just part of a group of women in the Gospel accounts, if you read them you will see that sometimes Mary's performing actions by herself, sometimes she's doing it with the group. But John chooses to primarily focus on Mary for our benefit. And as we're beginning to piece together the evidence here, we notice that Mary and the other ladies were concerned first and foremost with the dead body of Jesus, with motivated to come to him with the spices.

Now, it's not clear to us whether they knew of the fact that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had already taken care of it. In fact, we're told that Nicodemus provided 75 pounds of spices and aromatics for the embalming of the body of Jesus. If you want that for your notes, it's John 19 verse 30. John 19 verse 30. But nevertheless, Mary comes along with the others. We don't know why they were coming to with additional spices. In thinking about this and considering this, it may be because they figured, or they had heard that two men tried to put together this properly. And like many cases, women always have to follow behind the men to make sure that it's done correctly, of course.

We don't know the real reason there, but a real motivation. But after the Sabbath was over, we see them hitting the Jerusalem streets. They go and find the required spices here and want to anoint the body, the deceased body of their beloved Jesus. So they were concerned about his body. But they were not only concerned about the body, but they were also concerned about the stone. In fact, if you want to keep your marker here, we're going to come right back. But turn over, keep your marker here in John, but turn over to Mark 16 verse 3.

Just for one verse here, Mark 16 verse 3, we see that they were concerned with the stone. How were they going to get to the body if the stone is there? And so Mark records in his gospel that this actually came up in the women's mind as they made their way to the tomb. Mark 16 verse 3 says that one of the women piped up and said, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? That would have been a good question.

Because they knew the scene that they were facing. It's obvious they weren't going expecting a risen Jesus because they had the spices. So they asked this question. That could be a problem. Now, it doesn't say what their conclusion was, but it does say, of course, if you go on to read here, just in the next few verses, that the marvelous truth is they didn't need the spices. Of course, when they came upon the scene, the stone was already rolled away. And they encountered an angel there. So in turning back to John 20, it's interesting that at this moment, it's quite obvious that Mary did not take time to properly investigate the evidence. Okay? Here in John, back in John 20, we're told that she approached the tomb. She no doubt heard the angel there.

She had seen the stone rolled away. But with that, she remained outside the tomb, essentially, because she goes off and alerts Peter and the other disciple. And if you allow your eyes to go down to verse 11, we see her there still after the men had returned. Verse 11, she remained outside the tomb crying. And it's only then here, later in the narrative, there in verse 11, that she stooped down to look into the tomb. You see? So her concern for Jesus did not issue into a detailed investigation of the evidence that was before her here. And I submit to you this morning that Mary Magdalene might not be too unlike us here today. She was concerned.

She believed enough to do the right thing. But she had not found the key to give meaning to the evidence that was before her.

So in her mind, she was distraught, no doubt grieved. And that was clouding her mind enough to be between doubt and fear here, and thereby not actually, again, give meaning, true meaning to the evidence that was before her. And again, this is where we find many men and women today. Even in the church, perhaps this morning, you may be concerned enough to do the right thing, but clouded in your mind, perhaps, to give no ultimate meaning to the evidence which is before us here.

That's why we have to dig in. That's why we have to perform a proper investigation of all that we read in the Bible to prove ourselves, to prove for ourselves, to prove ourselves, to prove for ourselves. Because you'll notice, predictably, for Mary, her conclusion from the evidence was incorrect.

So because she only did a superficial analysis of what was before her, she begins to think incorrectly in her thoughts. She comes to the wrong conclusion. And not only that, she runs out on the streets to express this wrong conclusion, didn't she? I mean, she goes out. You'll notice verse 2 again, and she runs to Simon Peter and to John. That's who's writing this Gospel. This is Simon Peter and John. And she says they've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him.

So instead of exercising a proper investigation of the evidence, first, she, with a superficial glance, goes out into the community with false information. I'll state it, but we know this. How quickly wrong news, based on superficial evidence, or superficial glance at the evidence, hits the streets, right? We can see this in the church, but we no doubt see it in our news reels every day. You know, how quickly bad news, incorrect news hits the media day to day, half-truths, baptized into full truths, blurted out, you know, embraced then, embraced then by so many. But again, her conclusion was based on the evidence, but it was superficial. It was premature here.

Now we could ask, why was she susceptible to the initial false conclusion? What made her susceptible to the conclusion, this false conclusion, even after seeing the the stone was rolled away here?

And she still concluded that Jesus was still dead?

Well, I propose it's the same reason you and I fell from time to time to come to the proper conclusion with our beliefs. Oftentimes in grief and sorrow, we too, during those times, fail to see Jesus. In fact, let me just bring it to you today. What event in your life today where perhaps you're experiencing grief, you're experiencing struggle, you're experiencing sorrow, where you've examined the evidence that's before you, and you have erroneously concluded that Jesus is dead in your life today, or that he's gone, where you've examined the evidence, what's happening before you, and you've concluded based on that evidence he's not here with you?

To me, that's a very important question because this happens to us all the time, where we ebb and flow in our belief. We ebb and flow in seeing Jesus and believing that he's still with us. If you're in one of those spaces today, may I gently and lovingly suggest you may be taking a superficial glance at the evidence.

And just like Mary, you may be coming to the wrong conclusion.

And, in fact, Jesus is alive, and he is standing right before you.

But you're not seeing him. You're not seeing him.

Now, I don't want to pick on Mary too much, but this is quite remarkable.

She had seen the angels there. I mean, if you look at verse 13, the angel even speaks to her and says, Why are you crying? So she sees that, right? And in the greatest irony of all ironies, verse 15, Jesus himself speaks to her, and she thinks he's the gardener. If you've carried him away, tell me where you put him.

And so, again, this question emerges.

What was Mary's preoccupation? What was she preoccupied with?

She was preoccupied with the notion that Jesus was dead. She was not preoccupied with the notion that he was resurrected, and that shaped how she thought about these things, and it shaped her conclusions here. She was preoccupied with the thought of a dead Christ here. She was preoccupied with the thought, it's all over. So, she looks at the evidence of the rolled stone, and it does nothing. She looks at the evidence of an empty tomb, and it does nothing. She looks at the evidence of angels speaking to her, and it does nothing. She looks at the evidence of Jesus Christ himself, and it does nothing. Why? She's not looking for the evidence and the belief that Jesus is risen.

So, we got to get our minds around this. You know, that's why the Bible speaks about belief. You know, belief. It's so important. Our belief in God the Father and Jesus Christ, raised from the dead for us, sitting at the right hand of God today. We have to believe that, because that will shape our whole thoughts from that time forward.

So, we can come to the proper conclusions. Examine the evidence in your life here that Jesus is raised up. And so, I challenge you with these questions today. Here are the questions you can ask yourself. Have I really considered the claims of Jesus Christ? If you really consider the claims of Jesus Christ, it will make sense of the joy and the suffering that we go through.

Number two, have I read the evidence, truly read the evidence, of his death and resurrection? And have I examined these things properly?

Now, preparing a message of this sort, it's really difficult for me, because I am built to first go to heart matters and not logical matters. My brain's not working. I feel things much more quickly than I logically deduce things, you know? But let me just say to you logical, rational thinkers out there. If that's how you're built, if you're a deep thinker, let me put it to you this morning. Scientific methodology does not begin by ruling out the facts which are hard to understand. Okay? That's a fact. Scientists do not begin by just removing everything that is inconvenient to our natural thinking.

Science, in fact, is committed to examining all the evidence and to discover explanations for it all.

And I don't think it's an overstatement to say that most advances in scientific inquiry have taken place when the scientist has wrestled with one piece of evidence that's difficult to accept. All right? And the scientific community will agree with this next statement. It's the one fact that does not immediately fit into our natural thinking which wins Nobel Prizes. That's an absolute fact. So, are you a rational, logical thinker? If so, good. Good. Take the piece that doesn't immediately fit into our natural mind and examine it. And you may too, in the end, prove, like Mary, the evidence that—and come to the conclusion that you see Jesus. And perhaps you'll see him for the first time.

Now, again, I don't want to pick on Mary too much here because we notice from this narrative she goes and tells Peter and tells John this news, and you would think the disciples would have been immediately comforted by this news of a rolled stone and an angel there. You know? And they would have had their thoughts moved to the resurrection. You know, if you don't know the story, you might think the disciples, who had been with Jesus for so long, would have said, oh yes, that's the resurrection, of course, you know? But what's so remarkable here in verse 9, John 20 verse 9 again, verse 9 says, for as yet they—John and Peter and the disciples—did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Amazing! Amazing! They had been taught these things, you know? And again, if we're faced with sorrow and distress and grief, it's so easy to forget what we've been taught, and we can't forget it. We can't forget it. We got to bring our minds back to the proof, the evidence, what we know. So it's not as if the disciples were back in the upper room drinking coffee, just singing praises, waiting for this glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not at all. They were frightened, defeated, thinking that they were done.

And if anybody was the brave ones, it's these women, right? And maybe the only reason John and Peter rushed back to the tomb is just to disprove her. I don't know. Disprove Mary here. But they do go running. This recording here, starting from verse 4, it has all the hard marks of real data, real data here, evidence, a real recording. Verse 4, they're running both together. John, this is a biography here. He's referring to himself as the other disciple. But he says, the other disciple, Peter, he doesn't say I, outruns Peter here. John stoops to look in, sees the linen cloths lying there here. By the way, just a side note, it's quite fascinating. If Mary would have looked in and saw that these cloths were folded, there's no way she would have come to the conclusion that grave robbers took the body, right? What grave robber ever would have folded the cloths, you know? Now, they would have gotten out immediately or just taken the body with the cloths, the cloths with the body here. But John didn't go in. Verse 6, verse 6, Simon Peter caught his breath. He's not as good a shape as John. And he goes into the tomb. There, if you know Peter, that's no surprise. There he goes straight in. And perhaps he calls out to John and says, you got to look at this. So, into verse 8 there, John looks in. John goes in. He actually goes in. And it simply says, from John, the writer of this Gospel, it says simply, and he saw and believed. Okay? He saw the evidence and believed. You know, suddenly in that moment, viewing the evidence of for John, it was these folded cloths, these grave clothes. And that's what then just brought it to his mind and his heart and his soul. This belief just came inside of him here. And he was able to believe in Jesus as the Savior, perhaps for the first time here in his heart, depth of his heart.

What's it going to be for you? Perhaps you already have this going into the tomb, seeing the folded grave clothes moment. What was your moment? Where the evidence before you entered into your heart and the response was belief, belief. I say go back to that moment and think about it, ponder about it, meditate on it. Bring yourself back to that moment when that occurred. And if you haven't had that moment yet, look for it. Investigate.

Do you see the evidence of a risen Jesus Christ before you today? And if not, perhaps you need to take a closer look at the evidence that's before you. Again, what we're seeing is the Bible is not asking us to only make an emotional response, right? It's asking us to examine the evidence, make a decision. This is either true or it's false. It can't be anything in between. And I'll tell you, the evidence is insurmountable. Because as the message of the resurrection went out on the streets of Jerusalem, very quickly there would have been those that heard it and they would have ran straight to the tomb. And they would have witnessed for themselves that it's empty. Because if it wasn't empty, they could say, well that's a crazy message. His body's right there, you know. But no one did. No one, the body wasn't there.

And even more evidence, it's kind of counter evidence provided by the chief priests and elders, their response to the message of the resurrection going out on the Jerusalem streets was to pay money to the soldiers who were there, pay them to say that the disciples came and took the body of Jesus Christ. And for your notes, that's Matthew 28 verse 13. So that fact makes clear that even the Jewish authorities were equally convinced that the tomb was raised and that Jesus Christ was resurrected. They had to make up this concoction story, you see.

And we have all these eyewitness accounts. Peter and his sermon, Paul later on, and to the Corinth church, all these eyewitness accounts, and I encourage you to read them all. The evidence is overwhelming. How much more do you need, you thinkers out there? I'm not a lawyer, but I believe it was Cicero who said, ¿Qui bono? ¿Qui bono? Meaning, who benefits? So if you're putting together some witnesses, one of the first things you want to do, whatever witness you put on the stand, you want to make sure that their credibility is not questioned if they benefit from witnessing, right? So you actually want to put a witness on the stand that doesn't benefit at all. And the most credible witness is actually one who is actually not only doesn't receive any benefits, but it actually works against them to witness.

And that's certainly the case for these disciples, very reliable witnesses, because by testifying this out on the streets of Jerusalem, they received suffering, persecution, abuse, and in just about every case, death, eventually.

It has been said men will be prepared to die for a by they'll be prepared to die for a conviction. They are not prepared to die for a concoction, right?

So, you know, I can stand up here until my voice runs out, giving evidence, evidence, evidence upon evidence. But really, all the evidence in the world of the resurrection is worthless unless it causes you to have that deep heart-searching belief.

And it's because the evidence of the resurrection is unlike any other evidence because it asks the hearer for a response. In fact, it demands a response.

In fact, this is John's, the Gospel writer's, whole motivation for giving us all these signs and all and the evidence and all this recording. If you're hearing John 20 still, if you look down to verse 30 and 31, after he gives this narrative, this evidence of the resurrection, John here in John 20, verse 30 and 31, states this.

Verse 30, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. He says, you know, how much more do you need? But he says, 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. That's the whole purpose of this John writing this. It's the whole purpose of the Gospel writers putting forth all this evidence so that you will believe like John, and so that like Mary, you will be able to witness, I have seen Jesus through his word, you know.

You know, Mary, again, after only a superficial glance, reached a false conclusion. But after an honest look inside, she sees him. She sees him. And as we begin to conclude, this is, you know, within this evidence before us, this is where our hope lies here. This is the story of salvation. The story does not end with a dead Jesus remaining in the grave. The story ends with a risen Jesus Christ victorious over the grave. And here today, we must declare that we have seen him in our mind's eye, in our hearts. He has come to live in us.

And just as we conclude, you'll, you'll discuss, you know, the discovery here, you'll notice in verse 16, it came when the Son of God, Jesus Christ, spoke her name. He said, Mary. And she recognized the voice, right? And the wonder of it all, Jesus Christ still speaks your name today. Put your name here. And perhaps if you're going through a struggle, the purpose of this struggle is for these questions to come forth in your mind. These questions in verse 15, the same questions that Jesus asked Mary, he may be asking you today, Jesus asked Mary, why are you crying? And who are you looking for? And Jesus may be asking you those exact questions today. Have you lost a loved one? And, and your, your belief is, is not secure. You know, like Mary, she, she lost this loved one. Or perhaps you're like John, you know, John was thinking of his future. And that was all his dreams, his hopes. And it was all crushed there. Now him seeing Jesus in the put crucified and put in the grave. So what dreams, perhaps unfulfilled in your life is causing you to doubt, causing you to just be doing a superficial glance of the situation that's before you. And, and perhaps you're coming to the wrong conclusions. Well, I put it to you this morning, Christ comes to you, and he speaks to you by your name. Will you hear him today? Here is the evidence that's before you. Because our God is asking for a response. May we examine this evidence of the resurrection in closer manner than ever before. So like John, we may believe. And like Mary, may we all be able to make our witness that we have seen the Lord.