Turn with me then to John chapter 16. We're going to finish the 16th chapter today. At least that's where we feel the Lord has directed us this morning. A little bit more lengthy scripture lesson than we typically take. We see in this one overriding reality that we want to bring to your attention this morning. After speaking to the disciples now for some time, starting, of course, in the 14th chapter, and the 15th chapter, and now concluding in the 16th chapter. One thing I want you to keep in mind as we read the lesson today and go through the message that God would have for us this morning is to remember that, according to John, anyway, there's things that John doesn't record. The Garden of Gethsemane scene, going with Peter and John, he doesn't record those. But this is the last time that All 11 now disciples will be with Christ, with him teaching and speaking, at least that is recorded in scripture. These are parting words of Jesus himself in many ways. He's told them so many different things. He's recently just spoken to them about the The spirits were, I wouldn't worry about the lights guys, they're fine. That's just, they're fine. So, he's been speaking to them and teaching them so many different things. And now he's giving them these final bits of instruction. And preparing them for the sorrow that they're going to experience, the difficulty and the pain they're going to experience. But he gives them a great promise. Beginning at verse 16 of John chapter 16, a little while, Jesus says, and you will see me no longer. And again, a little while and you will see me. So some of his disciples said to one another, what is this that he says to us? A little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me. And because I am going to my father. So they were saying, what does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, Is this what you are asking yourselves? What I meant by saying a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament. But the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful. But your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. In that day, you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name. And I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you. Because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father. I have come into the world. And now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. His disciples said, ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you are come from God or that you came from God. Jesus answered them. Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone. for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world." What I want to speak to you today about is from sorrow to joy. The disciples in these first few verses of our scripture lesson from verse 16 through 18 express their confusion about the Lord's teaching. Jesus tells the disciples that there were going to be two separate what he called little whiles, two separate periods of time that he refers to again as little while, and during the first, they would not see him. And he's been preparing them for that now for some time and telling them, I am going away. We've heard it again and again in the Gospel of John that Jesus says, I am going away, I'm leaving you. And then we've heard just recently how Jesus says, but this, my departure is an advantage for you. And he then talked and spoke about the spirit of God. But then Jesus also said that after this first little while where they wouldn't see him, there would be another little while, this second period of time that they would see him. And there is a lot of theological back and forth between the commentators as to what these two specific periods of time mean. And it's not what I want to get bogged down in today. We know this. There was going to be a time when Jesus was going to be departed and he would leave from them, and they would not be with him, they would not see him, they would not hear him, and they would be sorrowful during that time. But then there was going to be another time that followed that, that they would be with him. And even the disciples, though, these eleven men who had been with Christ for three and a half years, they're confused, and they did not fully comprehend Jesus' mission on earth. Which is really an incredible thing for us to think about. And I think a new student of the Bible, when he reads the Gospels after maybe even having some awareness of the rest of the New Testament, this is surprising to us to think that Peter and John and James and Nathaniel and Philip and Andrew and these men, that they still at this point, at the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, did not understand what Jesus' mission really was. It's a little confusing to us to see their confusion. We often, seemingly most of the time, we think of Peter and James and John and these men, we think of them in their post-resurrection courage and strength. We see Peter on the day of Pentecost preaching to thousands and how thousands in the early days of the church came to Christ, came to know him, came to become followers of Christ. And we see Peter there on that day. We see Paul and we see these others and we see the men of this time doing great and wonderful things, as Jesus said they would do. And sometimes we forget just how confused and sorrowful They were. In these days with Jesus. They'd seen his miracles, they'd heard his teaching, they'd stood in awe of him again and again and again on that day on the boat in the Sea of Galilee, when the storm came up and threatened their very lives, they'd seen Jesus simply come up to the top and say, peace, be still. And a moment the storm settled. They'd seen this and felt this and heard this and here they are, confused, asking themselves, among themselves. Notice they didn't ask Jesus. We're looking at one another. What's he mean? What does he mean when he says these things? And I think in seeing these disciples this way, it is helpful for you and me. Because we too are often confused. and sorrowful. And yet by seeing their sorrow, and Jesus, of course, saw it, He brought them through that sorrow and promised them joy. As we take note of their confusion, their anxiety, their worry, their sorrow, and their fear, it can show us a reflection of ourselves. How we, too, can go from being anxious and afraid in our life to being calm and at peace. How we can go from being uncertain about the meaning of life to being absolutely convinced that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt why we are here in this world and where we are going and why. These disciples in their confusion teach us what it is to go from being sorrowful and confused to being at peace with great clarity. So, are you sorrowful this morning? Are you confused? Are you uncertain about life? I would ask you to listen to Jesus as He tells these disciples whom He loved how their sorrow was shortly going to turn to joy, how their confusion was going to become understanding. If you're saved and you know the Lord this morning, I want you to hear how Jesus comforts us. Even in the midst of our sorrow and confusion at times, if you're not saved and you don't know the Lord, I want you to hear this morning in Jesus words what you must come to understand so that you will seek him and find him and know him. who is the only source of clarity and peace in all the world. You put your confidence and your trust in someone else in this life, be it an individual or be it a government or be it a group of people. You put your confidence there. You can have no certain confidence because they're all just men and women like you and me, fallen and incomplete and without God. guideless in the world. So don't put your trust there. Look to Christ as Jesus encourages them to do. But he tells them in verse 20, he does not sugarcoat the situation. He says to them, truly, truly, I say to you, you will reap or you will weep and lament. Later on, he says to them, you will be sorrowful. He does not. Jesus does not. He does not sugarcoat the truth. The message of Christianity is the only path to feeling good, but it is not merely a feel good message. The message of Christianity is the true motivator of life, but it is not merely material for a motivational speaker. It goes farther than these things. deeper than these things, wider than these things. Jesus tells his followers plainly that sorrow was heading their way. You will be sorrowful. And I want you to think with me for just a minute of the sorrow that they were getting ready to experience over the next four days. These next four days that certainly all of their lives was pointing toward and all the rest of their lives would point back to Jesus, betrayed by Judas, abandoned by them all. None of them stayed with Jesus. They all left, and in the ESV, it says, would go to their own homes, and others, it's their own place. The sense is, simply in the Greek, that they would all leave him and depart and leave him alone. They would hear and see bits and pieces of the mockery of the trial that he was put under first by the Jews and the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin and then handed over to Pilate and the absolute murder that took place there at Calvary. They saw this one who had calmed the storms, raised the dead, told Lazarus to come out of the tomb. healed the sick and the lame and gave sight to the blind, knowing all the while that Jesus could call the armies of heaven to stand with him to resist the crucifixion that he was facing. But he didn't. In these four days, there was sorrow. That they experienced these disciples of Christ. His death. And the stone as it rolls in front of the tomb. And now They are without their Savior and their Lord. The sorrow that must have overcome them, I I can only liken it to the sorrow I felt when I was lost as 11 year old boy, not knowing God, thinking that I did. But didn't. In that moment, there was sorrow. And Jesus does not, as we've said, sugarcoat this. He doesn't change the truth. Listen, the message of Christianity leads. It leads with the reality of sorrow. It's what it leads with. Guilt. Sorrow first at sin. Isn't that what Jesus has just said? The Spirit of God, Jesus is who I will send, will convict the world of what? Of sin. of judgment, of righteousness. As Jesus has already said here, the Holy Spirit's first work in our hearts is the conviction of our sin, our fallenness, our need of salvation. The work of the Holy Spirit begins with sorrow. In the sense that it brings a reality and a knowledge of our sin. my sin, mine and yours, but mine when I was eleven years old, mine that put Christ on the cross. And His enduring of that pain and what it cost Him that I think is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. But by leading with sorrow, Jesus paves the way for where joy is truly found. the message of Christ, I believe, the true message of Christ in Christianity. It is given instant credibility when it leads with the reality of sorrow. Because inwardly, every last one of us knows sorrow attends us in this life. It's given instant credibility because it rings true to the human experience what I experience in my life. the smiling false prophet with his glittering white teeth that tells you that if you follow Christ, you will experience nothing but joy and happiness and no sorrow and no heartache and that everything in life will instantly be wonderful and good and you'll experience success in your jobs and wonderful marriages and happy children who never have any problems, who grow up and have all that they need and never experience pain themselves This man should be instantly discredited in our own hearts as we evaluate the truth of our own experience in life, because we know that sorrow attends this world. We know that pain is a part of this life. We want these things as human beings to be true, that there can be this land of promise here on this side of eternity that is absent of pain and burden and sorrow. We want these things to be true here so badly we'll even listen to the charlatan as he peddles his false doctrine. And we accept it in a hope, a vain hope, that they know something about life that we don't. But the truth is, they don't. We know inwardly and inherently that life is a labyrinth of danger and pain and sorrow and heartache and worry and fear and uncertainty and on and on and on the synonyms can go. These things are continually around us in our own lives and in the lives of those that we love and care for. This is the primary concern, by the way, that I have for our nation today in this idea and thinking that we can find on this side of eternity peace, perfect peace, with no disruption of that peace in any way. I say this, we certainly inwardly, when we know Christ, we have a peace. that passes all understanding, that cannot be moved. We go through this world with a peace and a certainty and a calmness of soul and spirit that we know our lives are in His hands, not ours. And therefore, we are cared for not only here, but in eternity. And that brings us to a great place of peace. But we're going to ride through storms in our life, even as Christians. And in fact, some of the storms that you're going to face are going to be because you are a Christian and a believer in Christ. As we look at our nation today and we examine the condition that we're in right now with this virus concern, here's my concern. And most, I believe, have the best of intentions, but I want you to hear me. I believe that we have set a standard in our nation that demands that we be safe in this life at all times and that it is the most important thing, safety here. That all other things in our life must bow to the holy grail of perceived safety in this world. We should be wise and prudent and careful. We should not live irresponsibly and call our irresponsibility faith. But at the same time, we must understand that complete safety in this life is simply untrue and is impossible, and often can be a distraction to what actually is most important. It is untrue. It is just untrue that the most important thing in our lives is our physical safety. It is not. The most important thing in our life is to know Christ. That's the most important thing. That's the most needful thing. To fear the one who not only can destroy the body, but can destroy the body and soul eternally. To recognize the futility of gaining the whole world and all of its perceived safety at the loss of our own soul. So it's not the most important thing. It's also simply impossible because in a fallen world where sin reigns in our own hearts and Satan walks about seeking whom he may devour as a lion seeking his prey, safety here at all times is impossible with all the dangers that surround us. The last I checked, unless Jesus comes back, none of us are getting out of this life alive. What's most important is knowing Christ. Now, some danger, some sickness, some disease, something is going to take us out of this world and into the next. And the problem that I see. Is that we need to remember that our safety and our security is in God and God alone. We must not teach our children that the most important thing in their life is to always be safe. That is to teach them a lesson that the most important thing is about this life and not the next. Teach them instead that the most important thing in their life is is to be sure they have found the safety that is in Christ alone, a safety that will not only carry them through this life, but through and into eternity with him in heaven, a safety that will be with them as they leave here and step into eternity with Christ, a place of eternal rest and safety in heaven. I believe one of the greatest causes of anxiety, fear and worry in our hearts as a nation, as individuals, is that we are seeking in this world what will never be found. Always looking to find the plan that will shield us and our children from danger, ever looking for the guarantee against loss and suffering, where no such guarantee exists. Jesus didn't make it. You will suffer. You will sorrow. You will feel these things. You will have tribulation in the world. The sorrow of the disciples is increased here. Jesus says to them that the world was going to rejoice while they sorrowed. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world, the world will rejoice. The sorrow of the disciples would be increased by the joy of the world at the very thing that caused them their sorrow. Can you imagine, by the way, the daggers through the heart that they must have experienced over these next four days? to hear the cutting of their heart as they heard the crowd respond to Pilate. When Pilate, with his hands open, what shall I do with this man? He's done nothing wrong. Can you imagine the daggers in the hearts of these 11 men and those women and those others that follow Jesus when they hear the crowd cry again and again and again, crucify him? Can you imagine the brokenness in their hearts at hearing this? A Christian who does not feel sorrow in the world and for the world and this lostness that it is in is a Christian who is not very close to the Lord. When the world rejoices at sin, it should break the believer's heart. When the world rests confident and that which we know will not sustain them, it should break our hearts and cause us sorrow. As the world taunts the believer in Christ and takes pride in his or her sin, the heart inside the Christian should be breaking. And when the believer in Christ sees the world placing all their confidence in a world that is doomed for destruction, as Paul said, is presently now passing away. It should break our hearts and bring us sorrow. This is just the way of it here on this side of eternity. It's just the way of it. Jesus did not tell us otherwise. We are not to expect heaven on earth. We are not to expect heaven on earth. In fact, the attempt to make earth heaven is tantamount to sinful because it is to claim that here in this fallen world, somehow we can bring about circumstances that will equate to the glories of a perfect heaven is simply impossible. A great many evils in human history have been perpetrated in the intention to build heaven here. So we must acknowledge that sorrow is going to accompany our lives and recognize it and in that the Christian message is immediately given credibility and believability. because we know it inwardly that sin and that suffering and sorrow and guilt attends us all. But Jesus doesn't leave it there and he never does. Sorrow, you've got to begin there. That's why we've spent some time here this morning talking about it. You have to begin here because if you don't begin with the sorrow, you can't understand what happens when that sorrow turns to joy. Which is the promise and the good news of Christ. You don't have to remain in sorrow. You don't have to remain guilty. You don't have to remain uncertain. You don't have to have life continue to be this black cloud of uncertainty where you don't know about tomorrow and you don't know what your life is going to bring. I do. I know that my life is going to end here in this world someday. And I know that when I leave this life, I'm going to heaven with my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that. I've known that since the moment He saved me. And I've known that since then. I know it now. And I don't know what's going to happen to me tomorrow or even later this afternoon. But I know where it all ends. And you don't have to remain in sorrow, uncertainty, and darkness. You can know Christ. And your sorrow can turn to joy. And that's the whole intent that God had in sending Christ. And we'll talk about that a little bit later. But the presence of sorrow, even in the Christian life, has caused some to doubt the message of Christ. Men have the mistaken idea that there's a path out of suffering in this world. that somehow we can exist in this world apart from suffering. Preachers more interested in lining their own pockets than in lining the streets of heaven with their hearers will give you promise after promise that something in this world, if you just give to this ministry, if you just repeat this prayer, if you just repeat this exercise of religion, all your trouble and all your pain will go away and you'll have your best life now, not to pile on. to an easily piled on statement. It's not what it's about. And so many discredit the Christian message because it leads with the reality of sorrow, guilt, shame, sin, conviction. But if you don't experience that sorrow, you'll have no material with which to have it turn into joy. It is for joy that Christ came. It is our joy that he desires. So many might leave the message at the suffering of the Christian and the suffering of the Savior. But even Hebrews tells us that it was for the joy set before Christ that he endured the suffering of the cross. And it is the joy in the Christian life that brings us through our suffering. Joy in our lives and in our hearts has always been the intent of God. And we've read it twice already in the Gospel of John. John chapter 10, verse 10. The thief, Jesus says, comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Later on in John 15, 11, Jesus says, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. In the Old Testament, Psalm 1611, you, David says, make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. You can't read the Psalms. And in my daily reading, I've been in Psalms now for quite a while. You cannot read the book of Psalms without coming away with the intense understanding that God's intention is for us to be people of joy. Not to remain in the sorrow and the brokenness of sin. In the darkness of this world, Jesus came to deliver us from those things. But you've got to know and acknowledge them before it can be turned into joy. The man who believes that God's desire is that he live a life absent of joy is a man unfamiliar with the word of God and unfamiliar with God's plan for humanity. He wants you to feel joy, but not joy in the temporary passing pleasures of this life. joy in the unending age of eternity with him in glory and righteousness and holiness. Satan has whispered in your ear and mine and the world's for far too long that our joy ought to be something that we experience at the expense of others or to consume upon our own desire. But let us notice here the wording in verse 20 and the example Jesus gives in verses 21 and 22. The reason many do not experience joy in the Christian life is because they're looking for it in all the wrong places. Jesus says, your sorrow will turn into joy. Your sorrow will change and turn into joy. He then gives this example of a woman in childbirth. And the pain that that child in the birthing process causes the woman. And Jesus says it here, when a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she's delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. The baby during that birthing process is a cause of tremendous pain. When the child is born, though, That pain is far exceeded by the joy of the life that has come into the world. I believe that Jesus is being figurative here as well. It's not that he dismisses the fact that the woman experiences the pain. In fact, I don't think it is that mothers forget the pain. A man by the name of J.R. Michaels, in the book he wrote, The Gospel of John, said this, most mothers will dispute the accuracy of the claim. that when the child is born, she no longer remembers the distress. But the words are not intended literally. They are simply a way of making the point that the prospect of joy renders all the grief or distress that precedes it worthwhile. And that is a beautiful picture of what happens when we get saved. The message of Christ here is that His departure, which was the cause for their sorrow, would become the cause for their joy. Once they see the fullness of what Christ's departure meant, His crucifixion, His trial, those things that we spoke about a moment ago that caused them such unutterable grief and pain as they watched their Lord that they loved, that they believed in, treated the way He was as the cat of nine tails and that which took the skin off of His back as they beat Him there and smote Him and spit upon Him and mocked Him and ridiculed Him and set the very cross that He was going to die on on His back to carry to Calvary, and all that pain and conviction and sorrow that it brought their hearts, that is what was turned into joy. They will see the advantage of His departure that it brought them as Jesus is telling them, I'm going away, but I'm sending the Comforter to you. It was by leaving them that he won their salvation, conquered the enemy and overcame this world. It was by leaving them in his earthly form that the way was made for them to find God. They were not ever. going to get over this. And some people might read this and say that slowly, as time often does, it will dull and deaden the pain of these four days. And they say Jesus is going to make them feel joy again. And that misses, I think, something of the heart of what Jesus is saying. It's not that they got over the pain of Jesus' crucifixion, but the pain and the sorrow as they now look at it and see Christ on the cross turned in to joy for the whole world. To know that he has opened the grave and that there is eternity that we can all enjoy because of what he did. It was not then that the pain of their sorrow would merely dull as time went on. They were not ever, as I've said, going to get over that. This is what salvation does in us, by the way. We don't forget the pain of being lost. I don't. I remember that moment sitting there in that campground so many years ago now, but as vivid to me now as it was then. I don't remember, or excuse me, I don't forget the fear, the burden, as I looked to my friend and said, I'm not saved. I don't forget that. But it was that pain of separation that went in and through Christ and repentance for sin and faith in what he did, We turn to joy. We do not forget that we were guilty before God. We do not forget that. We remember the sentence that we faced in the judgment of God. But the guilt of our sin and the judgment of God turned into joy the moment He saved us. And then we say things like this, I am redeemed. I am forgiven. I've been saved. I know God and He knows me. Though I am but a poor and lowly man, I know the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Though I was once merely a criminal in His kingdom, I am now one of His children. God is my Father and Christ is my elder brother. The saints of God are my brothers and sisters. Though I once was an orphan, I am now a part of the family of God. The pain of the guilt of sin turned into joy in its forgiveness. So much of the Christian message in places today has been distorted and twisted. Forget the pain. Don't think about the guilt. Don't think about sin. Don't tell the people that they're guilty. But if we don't tell the people they're guilty, we can never lead them to the joy that Jesus intends to bring them to. They're inextricably linked. If you are in pain over sin today and broken over it, there is opportunity for you to find joy. and it's a joy that will never be taken away. So also you have sorrow now, Jesus says in verse 22, but I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. It bears our notice here that joy and suffering are experienced by both the believer and the unbeliever. I'll say that again. Joy and suffering. are experienced by both the believer in Christ as well as the unbeliever. Sorrow and joy will be experienced by every one of us. The difference is the believer in Christ will sorrow for only a little while, and then they will be in joy for eternity. It is exactly the opposite for the unbeliever. They will experience joy here perhaps for a little while. Empty and shallow as even it might be, yet it's joyful to them in the moment. But their joy will be turned to sorrow, or as for the believer, their sorrow will be turned to joy. The difference is the order. Jesus says in Luke 6, 25, Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Psalm 30, verse 5, For his, that is God's, anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning. One of these days, here before long, I'm going to wake up to the eternal day, the eternal morning, as it dawns upon me and my eternity comes in. And I stand before you today. If you're still alive when I leave this body and you see this body in the casket or in the tomb or in a funeral home, know that I have entered into joy eternally. The sorrows are behind me. I know Him and He knows me. Now I want to quickly move along. Verse 28 is the gospel in a sentence. Verse 28 is the entire gospel in a sentence. Jesus says, I came from the Father and I've come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. Jesus knew that if he did not come into the world, the world would be doomed and to never have an opportunity to find peace and certainty and joy that he's speaking of. I came to give you joy. I remind you is what he told us. He knew that if he did not come and he did, but if he did not, that we would have no hope. So Jesus came down from heaven because of man's sin, our guilt, our separation from God. We know that this is true for every last one of us. There is no one that can intellectually, honestly say, I am without sin. I have done no wrong. I am fine. I am without guilt before God. There's not a one of us that can say that. We've all turned from him. We wouldn't even seek him. But when he comes to us by his Holy Spirit and draws us and convicts us, he wants to bring us to himself. And we are reminded that's why Jesus came. And Jesus said, I left heaven to come here. I came from the father. And I came into the world, Jesus says, to be the perfect sacrifice required by the law of God that neither you nor me nor the best person that we've ever known on planet Earth in our whole lives could ever live up to. It was only Jesus that did this. He came into this world. God among men, Emmanuel. God of very God, as it is said, and man of very man. All God and all man combined into this one person. He took upon himself humanity. He felt the sorrow of the world and the pain. And do you remember not too long ago in our examination of this Gospel of John in chapter 11, walking to the tomb of Lazarus, weeping? The Son of God, broken over the sin and the reality of death, And his mission in the world to overcome it, he took upon himself this humanity that you and I are in. He knew what it was to be tempted at all points, like as we are. And then Jesus says in verse 28, I'm leaving. Submitting to the father's will, Jesus gave himself freely to the cross. As we said, it was not Rome. the Pharisees or anyone else who put Christ on the cross. It was Jesus willingly laying it down for you and for me because of our sinfulness. And he came to be the sacrifice to satisfy God's law. When God makes a law in order to be God, it must be fulfilled. And Jesus fulfilled it for you. so that your pain and your sorrow and your burden and your guilt and your brokenness and your fallenness might be turned into joy and redemption and peace and holiness. And then he says, I'm returning to the Father. He's not just leaving the world. He's going back to the Father. And that's exactly what he did. Set down at the right hand of God. He conquered death and the grave and he now sits there next to God making intercession for you and for me. And through his resurrection, according to Paul, we have confidence of our own. We know that we will rise again because he did. You know, it's interesting to me as we come toward a close, it's interesting to me that no other We might use the word major religion. No other significant religion in the world makes this claim of a risen savior. Muhammad is dead. Buddha is dead. For the communists or the Marxists, Marx is dead. Lenin is dead. It's interesting to me that no other religion makes this kind of claim. God has protected Christianity. from this one competition of false religion. And I believe the reason is because Jesus' resurrection is true. And there's no other explanation that stands up to the historical fact as well as the obvious and present evidence of so many millions upon millions who've said, I've met him. I know him. I know he's alive. Linsky says this about this verse, and it's just a beautiful way of expressing the thought, and I want to share it with you. This verse 28, this gospel in a sentence. Linsky says, as simple as the words are, so mighty is their import or their importance. They reach from heaven to earth and back again. They span both God and the whole world. So speaks the Son, a divine and infinite word, filled with fathomless love and heavenly farewell. Only eleven men had their eyes on Him and heard the words come from His lips, but these words stand forever. Millions bow as they read them in the word of inspiration, and the universe shall know them, for they concern even the angels of God and the devils in hell. Just this one sentence. And I close with this in verse 31. Jesus, some have wondered whether this is a question. Jesus answered them and they've come to Him. after Jesus has spoken in figurative language, parable or dark saying, depending on the translation you read. He's spoken to them in a figurative way and then he answers them plainly and they come to him and they say, now you're speaking plainly. Now you're not using figurative speech. Now we know that you know all things. Now we understand is their claim. Now we get it. Now we see. Jesus says, do you now believe? And in our version, and in many others, there's a question mark. Some remove the question mark, make it a statement. But the sense, in many ways, can be the same. They thought they had come to an understanding, but they hadn't yet. Not fully. This is important. Peter and John, you remember them as they came to the empty tombs. You remember their stunned confusion? Some days later, from where we're reading today, when they come to Jesus, it says, now we get it. And Jesus says, do you? Do you get it? Do you believe? Because these men who now say we understand, two of them, Peter and John, we read about in the 20th chapter, here in a couple of chapters from where we are now, or a few, John chapter 20, verse three through nine. So Peter went out with the other disciple. Mary has come and said, Jesus is not there. The tomb is empty. And so Peter went out with the other disciple, which we of course know is John. And they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together. But the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And such beautiful language in the Greek that's lost a little bit in the English. And stooping to look in, he, that is John, saw the linen clothes lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He, Peter, saw the linen clothes lying there and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen clothes, but folded up by itself. The other disciple, again, that is John, who had reached the tomb first, also went in and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead up until that very point. John says, I was in the tomb. This is the same man writing this gospel. I still did not fully understand that Jesus must rise from the dead, even though I said to him some days prior. Now I get it. In the English, it's this word saw, S-A-W. And we in our human minds, rightly so, think it's the same kind of seeing that's going on here in these three instances. John gets to the tomb first. He looks in. He saw the linen clothes in the English. And in the Greek, it just means to kind of vaguely recognize and note, but not to focus upon it. To observe kind of like the peripheral vision. And then Peter comes in and he says, he saw. And that just means to look at it, but to be confused about something. And the last Greek word, saw, you know what it means? Know. He knew. Understanding came. And this is how Christianity It's how it is for everyone who's gone from being confused and sorrowful with no light and no truth, no peace, to being at peace and certainty with Christ. They know it for themselves. They know it for themselves. They do not know it merely because Martha comes or Mary does and says, the tomb is empty. They know it because they've laid their eyes on the empty tomb. And spiritually, we know it when we lay and set our eyes on Christ and we know him and find him. Christian knows it for himself. They've not just read about it in a book. They've not just adopted the moral and ethical system of Christianity to base their life on and raise their children with. They themselves have been adopted by God. They've gone from being dead in their sin to being alive in Christ. They've gone from sorrow to joy over the same thing. Have you lived the Christian experience of the new birth? Have you had your sorrow turned into joy, unspeakable and full of glory? Or have you only read about it? Are you living the Christian life that involves sorrow at times and burden and yet all the while knowing that there's this thing even in the midst of sorrow that wells up inside of joy because we know that it's just for a little while? Are you living this in your life or are you only reading about it? Do you know Christ or are you just reading about him? Do you know joy, peace, certainty and confidence and love. Or are you just reading about these things in the Bible? Or in Christian books? Books are great. Wonderful tools to express ideas and the truth of God when He allows. But words are just words when they're not in the heart. When they're not experienced and known. When they're mine. when there's such belief in the truth of the gospel that were the whole world to deny Him, I cannot. Not because of my strength, for certainly it is weak and pathetic, but it is simply this, I know Him, and I can no more deny Him than I can deny you. because He is real to me. Jesus said you must be born again. He did not say that most should be born again. He said you must be born again. So the question, have you been? Has God done such a work in your heart and in your mind that the sorrow and guilt of sin has been turned into the joy and peace of God and Christ's forgiveness through repentance and faith. If not, I tell you that Jesus beckons you to come to Him, to have the sorrow turned into joy. Matthew 11, 28, Come to Me, Jesus says, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. John 10, verse 9, Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. And we'll go in and out and find pasture. In Revelation 22, 17, the Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let the one who hears, hears what? The truth of sin and guilt and sorrow and pain. and its remedy in Christ. Let this one who hears this message come, and let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who desires to take the water of life without price, let him come. Who will come? Who will have their sorrow turned into joy, their sorrowful confusion about life turned into peaceful clarity? Feet removed from the miry muck of the sin of this world and planted solidly on the truth of God and His Word in an experience where we come to know Him. Who will leave here better than they came? Because they've trusted Christ and now they know Him. That's a question that only you can answer. And as Jesus has said, the Spirit of God is a guide, but not a compeller. He wants you to come to Him. He bids you come. He wants to remove the guilt of shame and sin and give you peace and rest with Him. He wants your sorrow to be turned into joy. And I pray that soon it will be. Let's have some. Let's stand and sing together.