Let's turn this morning to John chapter 20. We'll read the first 18 verses and then consider verses 11 through 17. John chapter 20. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. Now that's John. Whenever he refers to himself in his epistles, his epistles or gospel, he refers to him that way, the disciple whom Jesus loved. And saith unto them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. And they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down and looking in saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away unto their own home. Now here begins our text. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher, weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne or carried him hence away from here, tell me whether thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary, She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, master. Jesus saith unto her, touch me not. For I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father and to my God and to your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord. and that he had spoken these things unto her. So far we read God's holy, inspired word. It was Sunday morning. The sun had not even risen yet, but would very soon. A small group of women leave the city of Jerusalem. This group includes Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James. Salome, the mother of James and John. Joanna and other unnamed disciples of Jesus. Their purpose was to visit the sepulcher of Jesus outside the city. They had witnessed the events of Friday. They had been at the scene of the cross. where their blessed Savior and Lord hung, nailed, died, was a horrible thing for them. The darkness, the cry of Jesus, my God, my God, why, why hast thou forsaken me? And then he was gone. And then the earthquake that ripped apart the hills around Jerusalem. It was terrifying. And they had even followed Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus to the sepulcher of Joseph, where those two men had taken care of Jesus' earthly remains. But now they come. after waiting out the Sabbath day with spices to anoint the body of Jesus. Perhaps there had not been enough time on Friday for that to be done by Joseph and Nicodemus. If it had been done properly, and we read in the gospel accounts that they did anoint his body, perhaps they weren't aware, perhaps it wasn't done sufficiently. But either way, they start out now to accomplish what they thought would be their last labor of love for a fallen Savior. As they near the sepulcher, they discover that the great stone which had been rolled in front of the mouth of the sepulcher was rolled away. Mary Magdalene immediately assumed that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. And so while the other women went into the sepulcher and were confronted by two angels and were informed that Jesus was risen, Mary Magdalene went back to Jerusalem to inform Peter and John, they've stolen the body. Come, look, see. And they hurriedly go to the grave ahead of Mary Magdalene. We read that earlier in this chapter. And they discover not only an empty grave, but they see evidence of the resurrection. But now in the verses we consider, we find Mary Magdalene, who obviously hadn't understood yet or had been informed by the other disciples, She's at the mouth of that sepulcher, weeping for her Savior. This was the first of 10 appearances that the risen Lord made to his disciples from the day of his resurrection until 40 days later at the time of his ascension. Five times on the day of his resurrection he would appear to various of his disciples. This was the first. These ten appearances of the risen Lord to his disciples were very, very important then and now. Their importance, first of all, is to be found in the fact that now we have proof of the resurrection. There's not only an empty grave, not only grave clothes that are mysteriously undisturbed without a body in them, there's not only the message of the angels assuring the disciples he's risen, but he appears to his disciples, infallible proofs of the resurrection. But more than that, each one of these appearances is used by Jesus to instruct the church about some aspect of his resurrection. And that's the case also here with his appearance to Mary Magdalene. Jesus' instruction to her was, Mary, touch me not. She reached out to cling to him. in her joy, Mary, touch me not. I am not yet ascended to my father, but go unto my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father, and to my God and your God. There we see the significance of the resurrection in this great gospel. So I call your attention to this passage under the theme, touch me not. That's what Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, touch me not. Let's notice first of all, a seemingly strange command. This does seem strange at first. Secondly, a significant reason, there's a good reason for this. And then finally, a glorious truth. about the resurrection. And here we're going to hear the great gospel of the resurrection. This command of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, touch me not, seems strange first of all if we bear in mind who Mary Magdalene was. From the other gospel accounts we learn that she was from Magdala, a city on the southwest side of the Sea of Galilee. That's how she gets her name, Mary Magdalene. Jesus had cast out of her, during his ministry, seven demons. And so she joined other women who had received the same miraculous work of Jesus. We read that in Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 8, and it came to pass, this is verse 1, afterward that Jesus went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve were with him and notice and certain women which he had healed or which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities out of whom The certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the son of Cushah, Herod's servant, and Susanna, and many others which ministered unto him of their substance. So there was a small following of women whom Jesus had healed, out of whom He had cast demons. And they ministered to Him out of their substance. What little they had, they provided for Jesus and His disciples. Food, and clothing, and other services. As far as mending clothes and so on, that men just don't do. In all of this, there is no room for the popular but blasphemous idea today that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' lover. Obviously, Mary Magdalene and the other women had an entirely chaste and proper relationship with Jesus, and were probably older than Jesus. You know, as a minister, I've come to the conclusion early on, I'm not going to visit with any woman alone unless she's old enough to be my mother. And I can't do that anymore, visit with any women alone, because none of them are old enough to be my mother. Jesus and Mary and her relationship, their relationship was very proper. But now in light of all this, It seems rather strange that Jesus instructed Mary not to touch him. Literally, we read, stop clinging to me. When Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and finally recognized him, she reached out and grasped him, probably by the knees. Stop clinging to me. How strange. How often hadn't Mary Magdalene ministered to him with the other women? In fact, Mary Magdalene seemed to be the chief of these women because her name was mentioned first in Luke chapter 8. And now, after these months of ministering to him, in which she was in close contact with him, hey, don't touch me. Back off. Stop clinging to me. Seems rather strange, doesn't it? This command seems even more strange when we understand that Mary's great sorrow had changed into ecstatic joy. Mary's sorrow had known no bounds. There had, first of all, been the death of Jesus on Friday. along with the other disciples had not anticipated Jesus' death. Jesus had warned them. Towards the end of his ministry, he spoke often of it, and even of his resurrection, but it didn't fit into their perspective, and so they simply dismissed it. But Jesus' death, cruel. horrible, publicly executed as a criminal, shattered their dreams, and that of Mary Magdalene. They came into Jerusalem expecting Jesus to show his power now, finally on this time of the Passover. At the height of his popularity in Judea, he was received on Palm Sunday as the king. and they expected him to show his power and to establish his kingdom and instead he's arrested and Jesus does nothing to stop it and he allows himself to be crucified and now he's dead and his corpse is in the grave all their hopes and dreams were shattered and Mary's grief was even intensified because she had come to the rash conclusion someone has stolen his body. Returning to the grave on Sunday morning with the other women to anoint the body of Jesus, she had, without any investigation, rashly concluded They've stolen the body. The grave has been rifled. The stone is rolled away. That only deepened her great and terrible sorrow. We see evidence of that in this passage. And Mary stood without the sepulcher, weeping, weeping uncontrollably. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher and seeth two angels in white, sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. Now, when the other women earlier had gone into the same sepulcher and see these two angels, they had to be calmed down. Don't be afraid. They had shrunk back. Mary is so overcome with grief. It doesn't daze her. It doesn't dawn on her. And so they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She says unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and know not where I have laid Him. And when she had said thus, she turned herself back. She is so overcome with grief. It doesn't dawn on her, really. The angels have come to occupy the grave of her Lord. And her only concern now is to find the body of Jesus. And when she had said thus, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne or carried him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. That's where Mary was. And now? Her deep, horrible sorrow, devastating pain is suddenly turned to ecstatic joy. This gardener, isn't the gardener? He says, Mary, Mary. And she immediately recognizes this is Jesus. He's not dead. He's alive. His body is not stolen. Here he is. She is filled with abounding joy. Doesn't understand, but what ecstatic joy. She has Jesus back again. And she reaches out and grasps him. And Jesus says, don't touch me. Stop hugging me. You got to back off. How strange. Jesus who is always so tender, so understanding. Don't touch me. A strange command, isn't it? Well, now that brings us to our... There, that's better. That brings us to our second point, a significant reason. The reason for this seemingly strange command is to be found in the very nature of Jesus' resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus was an advancement for Jesus into the realm of the heavenly. that had not been the case with previous resurrections, not before this in the Old Testament, and not in the three resurrections that Jesus performed in his earthly ministry. Take the resurrection of Lazarus a month before this. Lazarus' resurrection was simply a return back to this life. He was brought into the grave with a flesh and blood body, subject to death. That's why he died. That death broke all his earthly relationships, but Jesus simply brought him back. He came out of that grave just like he entered in, only alive. He was still flesh and blood, made of the earth. He was still dying. He was going to die all over again. When I was a young boy, I thought, boy, Lazarus, that was great. He lived again. But now I see that poor man had to die twice. He was still dying and he died again. But he picked up his life or he left it off. And really nothing was changed except he had been sick, he died, now he was back just as before. That's not true of the resurrection of Jesus. Obviously, just from the circumstances of the resurrection, there was something different. There was an empty grave, but Jesus wasn't found. And obviously, he had passed through the grave clothes. They were undisturbed, but the body wasn't there. This was different. This was not the resurrection of Lazarus. You see, this was an advancement. Through his resurrection, the body of Jesus became heavenly. Oh, the body that he assumed through the virgin birth and from his mother was just like ours, flesh and blood. The flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. Through the resurrection, Jesus' body was not only brought to life again, but changed and made heavenly, adapted to live in heaven. And through the resurrection, Jesus was placed beyond death. He was raised unto eternal life, never more to die. And because of that, all the old relationships he had in life here were gone. They were not to be renewed. They were gone. He did not come out of the grave to pick up life here as it had been enjoyed before by his disciples. That resurrection of Jesus was based upon his perfect sacrifice of the cross. He had come to take upon himself the punishment of God's people, to take their death upon him. He did that perfectly. Therefore, the grave could not hold him. And he had every right, he must be raised with a heavenly body. Still human, but heavenly into everlasting life. Everything was different now. And that's what Jesus taught Mary in this first appearance. Especially Mary had to be taught this. Now that was true of all the disciples. They didn't understand at this point. Why did Jesus have to die now that he was alive again? That's nice, but we don't understand. They all would have enjoyed simply picking up with Jesus where they had left off with him doing his miracles, teaching them. They all had to be taught this, but especially Mary. Especially Mary was clinging to those old relationships. In all the appearances of Jesus, you never read of any of his disciples reaching out and clinging to Jesus like Mary did. Especially she had to be taught, it's not going to be as before. The resurrection changes things. Touch me not. Stop clinging to me. It's not going to be like before. Well, that brings the question and now the final point. What then? What then? Is all contact with Jesus lost? Is our relationship with Him finished? No. but it's brought to a much higher and much more powerful and beautiful level. Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father. and to my God and your God. Jesus talks about his ascension that would take place 40 days later. In the sight of his disciples from the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem, He left the sphere of this earth with his glorified human nature, his resurrected body joined again to his soul. And he left the earth and has been taken up into heaven where he remains at God's right hand and where he stays until he will return one day on the clouds of heaven to judge the living and the dead. That's what Jesus is referring to here, his ascension. So again we ask the question, is this a loss for us? When he was here, three and a half years, what a blessed ministry, what a beautiful time for the disciples. Now he's gone. Is, in fact, His resurrection and ascension a nice thing for Him, but a great loss for us? No. No. Listen. I am not yet ascended to my Father. I will go up to my Father. Throughout his ministry, Jesus spoke of God as his father. I have come to do the will of my father. He even taught us to pray, our father which art in heaven. When we think of the father of Jesus, we must not limit our thoughts to the Trinity. God is triune, isn't he? One God, one divine being, and within that one divine being, three persons. And the first person generates the second person. So there's a father and there's the son within the divine being. And together, they breathe forth the Holy Spirit. So he proceeds from the father and the son. Jesus is that second person, the eternal son of God. But when he in his ministry and here speaks of going to his father, he's not talking about that relationship. Because in that relationship, the first person is not his God. Jesus here is talking about his relationship to the triune God. the mediator. Through the virgin birth, the eternal Son of God, who remains truly divine, took upon himself our human nature of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary and became one of us, God in human flesh. He did that to be the mediator between God and his elect church. In that capacity, the Son of God in our flesh as the mediator, well, the triune God is his Father, begat him through the virgin birth. And the triune God is his God, whom he serves as mediator. He is the servant of Jehovah God. That's the relationship we have here. And now as the Mediator, the Son of God in our flesh, who all his life long endured the wrath of God against sin, took it all away at the cross, and now is raised according to his human nature, speaks of ascending to his Father, the Triune God. in heaven. And if we're going to see the significance of this, we must bear in mind that Jesus ascended into heaven as heir of his father's inheritance. Hebrews chapter 1. The first two verses, listen to this. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, in the Old Testament God spoke to the prophets, God spoke to his people through the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. We're talking now about the heir. God has, as Father, a tremendous, glorious inheritance. And Jesus being the Son is the heir who has legal claim and right to the Father's inheritance. He is heir to the entire universe that God has made. made from the beginning through him according to Hebrews 1 verse 2 he is heir to all the power and authority of his heavenly father so that he has the right and the ability to rule the creation that God bequest to him as heir he's also heir to all the blessings of salvation which God will bestow upon his church he's the heir And he is the heir to this great inheritance of God through his own death. And inheritance comes through the death of the testator. Well, in this case, it was Jesus' death himself as he made the perfect sacrifice for sin and obtained the salvation of the church brings him into his inheritance. That's the basis for him receiving the inheritance, and he received the inheritance of the Father as the heir at his ascension. That's when he came into his inheritance. Forty days after his resurrection, God brought him to heaven, seated him at his own right hand of power and authority, gave him control over the whole universe, power and authority for him to rule and to own on behalf of his father, and blessed him with all the blessings of salvation that he had earned at the cross. He came into his inheritance. So we still remain with the question, well, how does that help you and me? What a beautiful, blessed thing for Jesus. The heir has now come into his inheritance. But what about you and me? The blessed gospel here is that Jesus came into his inheritance as our brother. Notice what he says here to Mary Magdalene. Touch me not, for I am not yet a son unto my father, but go to my brethren. and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and to your God. Jesus acknowledges the disciples then, and his disciples throughout all ages, including you and me, his brothers that term is broad enough to say sisters as well how is it that we are the brothers of Christ and he our brother well because by the work of grace we have become part of the family of God haven't we On the basis of Christ's perfect sacrifice for our sins, God has adopted us to be his children, his sons and daughters, and given us a legal place in his family, along with Jesus. And then God has done something that no adopting parent can do, through a spiritual rebirth, God has even transformed us into his own image and likeness so that we resemble God and are those who are now spiritually fit and able to fellowship with God, to live in the fellowship of his covenant. So being brought into the family of God through adoption and through spiritual birth, we are the children of God. We are sons of God. And we join Jesus in the family of God. We have the same Father. We have the same God. We belong to the same family. And within that family, Jesus has the preeminence. He is the firstborn. That's clear from Romans 8, verse 29. For whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Whom God did for know, that means who he knew and loved eternally and therefore chose. He predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, who is his image. That Jesus might be the firstborn. among many brethren. Now remember in the Old Testament the firstborn was the one who had the preeminence. Remember Jacob and Esau. At stake was the promises of God. Who is going to continue the covenant? Through whom would God continue the covenant? Well, Esau was the firstborn, but God gave preference to Jacob, the secondborn. But ordinarily, the firstborn was the one who had the preeminence in the family, double inheritance. He ruled the family after his father's demise. Jesus remains the firstborn. He occupies that place of prominence in the family of God, so that on the basis of his perfect sacrifice in the cross, when he is risen and then taken to heaven, he receives the inheritance of God, because he earned it. It's his. But because we are brethren, he shares it with us. He shares it with us. doesn't just keep it for himself. He shares it. And we have the beginnings of that now in the work of grace. We're transformed. We're adopted. We begin to enjoy the blessings of salvation. That's the beginnings of our inheritance that our eldest brother shares with us. and will come into the full inheritance in the day we're brought out of this earth and brought to glory. But now, that's our salvation. Now, to that ascended Jesus, who is our eldest brother, we must now cling. Jesus told Mary, don't touch me. Stop clinging to me because I have not yet ascended to my father. He did not mean, Mary, you're never to cling to me again. You're never to lay hold of me again. No. It meant, Mary, you have to wait. You have to wait until I am ascended. to my father and your father, to my God and your God. You have to wait until I have come into my inheritance to cling to me. And then you don't cling to what I was here on the earth, you cling to me as your eldest brother who has the inheritance. And you must do that by faith because According to my human nature, I won't be here anymore. And Jesus had a message for Mary to relay to the disciples. But go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father. That was pretty touching. That was very important for Mary and the disciples to hear. He still called them brothers after all that they had done. They had abandoned him. They had left him behind when he was arrested. Peter had even denied him, cursing and swearing in the courtyard of Caiaphas, the high priest. I don't even know who he is. But he still owns them. They're my brothers. And they must learn, too, to cling to him as the one, the eldest brother, who has gone up to heaven to receive their inheritance now and forever. And we must do the same. Did you ever think, wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus were here in the flesh like before? And we could sit at his feet, watch his miracles, hear his teachings. Wouldn't that be wonderful? As a child, I thought that. Then I put myself back into Mary's position, you see. But we have something better. We have a better relationship. We're brothers. and sisters in the family of God. And we stand by faith connected to the firstborn who has received the inheritance, and that's destined for us. And so we cling to him as the firstborn, the heir, that we may be joint heirs with him. How do we cling to him? So that even now we begin to enjoy this inheritance. Well, it's by faith, isn't it? And the first thing of faith is this. It doesn't seek an earthly kingdom. It doesn't seek earthly things. That's what the disciples, that was their problem. They couldn't look beyond earthly things. that seeks an unheavenly inheritance with spiritual riches. And by faith to cling to Christ means that you still sit at His feet and you make yourself students of His Word and of His teachings. You come to the house of God to hear Him proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and the inheritance and our relationship to him. And then by faith, in prayer, you come to his God and our God, his Father and our Father, seeking your part, our part of the inheritance, our adoption. our new life. Claiming by faith the riches that are ours in Christ through the prayer of faith. Not on the basis of what we are, but on the basis of the perfect work of Christ. Looking, looking ahead to receiving the fullness of this inheritance when the Lord comes again. Let's go beyond what Mary was, who had to be told, touch me not. Let's cling by faith with all our hearts to our risen Lord, who is our eldest brother. And let us claim by faith the inheritance that he shares with us. Amen. Father in heaven, we ask thy blessing upon thy word. We rejoice, O God, in the resurrection of our blessed Savior. We rejoice in his exaltation. We rejoice to be brothers of him, to be members of the family of God, to share in the inheritance of the great heir. We ask and we pray this for Jesus' sake, amen. 303 is our final song. Based on Psalm 110, 303 will sing all the stanzas. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.