I'd like us to think tonight of Mary Magdalene. I was telling somebody this afternoon that that would be the subject of the Bible study and they said, oh, I've not heard that as a subject of a Bible study for a long time. My title tonight is Amazing Grace in Mary Magdalene. So we turn to Luke, chapter 8, And we see the very first reference to her here in verse 2. And certain women, evidently these had already been saved and healed and changed, which had been healed of evil spirits, It seems as though there was a common problem amongst them and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils. The Lord Jesus was preaching, teaching, preaching the gospel of repentance and faith and of the kingdom of God with his disciples and already there was a group a band, we might say. Women followers, particularly mentioned. Joanna, the wife of the household steward of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and it says many others. These godly women who'd come to love and to know the Lord Jesus Christ. So Mary Magdalene is one of the most compelling figures of the whole of the New Testament. There is much rubbish and nonsense and lies and fables and myths which we have to unpick. What I've done in preparing for this Bible study is to look at every reference. There's 12 references to Mary Magdalene across the four Gospels. She's not mentioned elsewhere apart from implied in Acts 1.14 in that very first prayer meeting of the early church. And so we go to the data, the information that the Word of God gives And we look at her testimony this evening. So there was a first encounter. We don't know what her life was like before. We don't know where she was from. We presume it was from a little fishing village called Magdala, which would make sense if she's called Mary Magdalene, Mary of Magdala. A little small fishing village just near the Sea of Galilee. And so that's all we know about her background, and we have to fill in the pieces. We don't know what her life was like, but we know what it became. And we know what she was saved from, and we know it was a very grievous affliction, so we shall look. at that one of the six Marys. Very easy to confuse them sometimes. Even Mary Magdalene is just called Mary. We have to look carefully and see which one it was the most common name for a Jewish lady in those days. One of the six. And she's mentioned, as I say, twelve times. And so we see that she is unusual in that her name is given. When you think of all the people that the Lord Jesus healed, very often it says a certain man, a certain woman, a man born blind and we don't know their name. But this woman, she is singled out. Her name is given and it's very interesting. Whenever she's mentioned in a list of the women, and that's in a number of places, her name is mentioned first. And I think that says something to us of the significance of her life and of her testimony, of how much she meant to our dear Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, as we shall consider, He chose her above all people and above all women to be the very first to witness His resurrection. Now there is a Gospel of Mary, a so-called Gospel of Mary. It rightly was not included in the Canon of Scripture. While we're on that subject, it wasn't the Council of Nicaea which decided, as some people say, which books should be included. The books that the Council of Nicaea recognized were already approved. They'd already been used in the churches, some of them for several hundred years. No, the Gospel of Mary was never accepted. It was never a text that was relied upon by the early church. That's one of the first myths that we have about Mary Magdalene. The second one is that she is known sometimes for two reasons, which I shall explain. as a sinful woman, a prostitute. But she never was. There's no evidence whatsoever. This occurred because one of the popes, Pope Gregory I, pronounced that Mary Magdalene was the sinful woman that washed the feet of the Lord Jesus. There's no evidence of that whatsoever. And She was also called a sinful woman by implication in the Da Vinci Code. I don't know very much about that, but I think it was about 2006, something like that, that that film came out. And this myth that Mary Magdalene had a sinful past, of course we all have a sinful past, but you know what I mean. There's no evidence for that. And in that film as well, was a myth perpetuated, somewhat blasphemously, that Mary Magdalene was married to the Lord Jesus Christ, of which there's no evidence whatsoever. And so we go back to the Word of God, we always draw all of our data only from the Word of God. We look at other sources, merely out of interest, And in this particular case, they are completely at odds. When you harmonize all these twelve references, they paint a consistent picture. So let's look at Mary Magdalene's life in the brief time we have under five headings. Five C's, if you're taking notes. Her conversion. Her commitment to Christ and His ministry. Her companionship. particularly at the cross, the confusion that she had when he rose again, and then her bold conviction that she had in the early church. Conversion, commitment, companionship, confusion for a time, and then conviction. She came to Christ and she was healed, transformed, Mark. And Luke both tell us of these seven devils. Was there literally seven devils? I don't know. Very often when the term seven is mentioned in the Bible, it just means the complete number. It means that she was so possessed of demons and devils that there was no room for any more. She was totally under the control of demons dominated by Satan. What a picture of a life ruined. ruined. We can speculate perhaps, I think there's reasonable grounds to say that because this demon possession was so extensive, she would have been physically damaged, bruised, no doubt psychologically damaged, emotionally damaged. If you are that demon possessed, and we think of the man of Gadara, who cut himself and had to be chained. It's something like that for her. Well, the damage would have been considerable. Beauty would have been tarnished. Maybe she was an intelligent woman. It seems that she had some money because we read here in Luke 8.3 that she, along with the other, the many other women, they ministered unto him of their substance, their means. It's implied that it's financial. So it seems as though she was an able woman and she had some means, but battered, bruised, injured, damaged. What a picture of the effects of sin within a life. And you know, if we're not physically bruised, psychologically traumatized in living in this world, it's a blessing. Because some were. To some extent, some are. You can speak to people on the streets, we speak to people in the prison, and the damage, the accumulation of damage that the world has caused, let alone from within. So this woman healed of evil spirits. Seven devils. She would have lost control. She would have lost her dignity, we would say today. She was a mad woman. Careering here and there, out of control. She would have been notorious. I think that's a fair speculation. Oh, there's Mary. Look at her now. What a sorry state. She would have been in no dignity. What the Lord intends for every life, was gone. There was hardly a shadow of what she should have been. Isn't that true? Of every unbeliever. And if it hasn't happened to you to the number seven yet, it could. That's the extent. That's how far we can fall. We speak about total depravity. She had total demon possession. that caused her to be consumed. There was only one hope. No one else could possibly help this dear woman. No doctor, no priest. She was beyond help. No medication, no schizophrenic drugs if they were available at the time. No, she was far gone. Until she meets with the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know we don't know much and therefore we didn't need to know much. Maybe, as the Word of God often does, there is a veil put over her life to preserve what was left of her dignity. The details are too gory, too damaging. And I think that's why sometimes the Word of God leaves out detail that perhaps we want to know, but we don't need to know. All we know was these words, out of whom went seven devils. What was she like afterwards? Transformed. Totally different. Don't we want to see that when somebody is seeking the Lord? I don't know their sin. You don't know their sin. You don't know their addictions. Maybe they're a liar. Maybe they've been unfaithful. Maybe they've been this or that. We don't need to know all the detail. What we need to know is has there been a transformation? Is Christ taking up residence in that life? And this woman now, she is under control. She has dignity. She has grace. She was unrecognizable. Christ saw her. Christ was the only one that saw her potential. He was the only one that could see into her heart, her real personality, which the Lord always uses. He doesn't crush it. Simon Peter, you look at his personality. He wasn't the first to the tomb, but he's the one that boldly goes in. The Lord uses your confidence, perhaps. He uses your boldness. He uses your humility. and he uses it for his purposes. So this woman, he recognizes her. And he doesn't see what she is, he sees what she can become. Her potential, sometimes teachers say that, don't they? Oh, here's a child with high potential, very clever, very good at maths, can do all their tables, age three. Christ saw in this woman. her potential. He sees your potential. He knows what you could be tonight. He knows what he can make you into. He knows what you are, what you were, and he knows what you can be. And this woman, her conversion created one of the closest bonds and human friendships that there has ever been Jonathan and David. Oh, that was close. But surely this must be closer. That was two sinners. This is a sinner and the sinless savior. So half of that relationship was perfect. And the bond between Christ and Mary was so close, and I can show you how. She was saved, transformed, and she was freed to serve. And what love and gratitude we're going to see in this woman's life. So that's her conversion. I can't really tell you anything else. about how it happened, we know it was Christ, we know that he met with her, we know that she wasn't just healed, but as with every physical and demon healing, it was a picture of what had gone on within the soul. And she came to know Christ. And from then on, while we're still on verse 3, she ministered. unto him. What a picture. Let's come to our second heading. Her commitment. And it starts really with that. She ministered. What did she do? The rest of her life. She's been taken from a life of ruin to a life of purpose, a life of meaning, a life of usefulness. And so it was inevitable. She's got a debt, a huge debt, and it's been repaid. Can we say that she wanted to service the interest on the debt? She couldn't repay it. None of us can. But she wanted to show at least a token of her love and her appreciation. They say of those who've been forgiven much, there is much love. If you want to love more, Think of what you've been forgiven from. And so her commitment. As I say, she's listed first in these lists of those that traveled with Christ. Why is that? I think in some ways she was a leader. She's listed first because she's the first there. She's the one that's last there, as we shall see. Last and first. Last at the cross, first at the grave. This is the woman whose commitment is total, as complete as could be. Just as she was completely possessed, now she's completely committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. She travels with him often, that's mentioned in some of the references. She will travel to Jerusalem for Christ's final Passover. She didn't know that this would be the final Passover. None of the disciples and followers did. The penny hadn't dropped. It was only the night before when he stands and sits before them and gives the Lord's table and institutes that meeting, that meal that is to be remembered. And she was told in the wider gathering what would happen, but she still hasn't really understood. And so she travels with him often and she'll travel with him the final time for the final Passover. She never imagined that Christ would be the sacrificial lamb, the one who was offered up. We also know there's no other record of a rabbi having a woman as a follower. Christ was a total pioneer, absolutely unknown of in those days. To have a woman in your intimate circle and band of followers, that was not permitted. It would have been frowned upon, but Christ, as he did with the woman at the well, he broke traditions of men and earthly cultural conventions where it was right to do so. And so she ministers of her substance, she travels with him and she goes with him for the final time that he would go to Jerusalem. Turn to John chapter 19, we read chapter 20 but we go to chapter 19 and to verse 25. We go to the third C, we've looked at her conversion her commitment, her total commitment, and the third C, her companionship. Now, John 19, 25, now they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, another Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. That's three Marys. And there was other women there as well. And when Jesus therefore saw his mother and so on, who's there? Only John, as far as we know of the disciples, but the women were there. Three Marys at least, probably other women, but Mary Magdalene's there. She must be there. What will they do with my dear Savior? What will they do to him? She is just trying to work it all out, so devoted during his earthly ministry. Now the greatest miscarriage of justice is unfolding before her very eyes. The one that loved her so much must be there until the bitter end. She's a witness to his suffering. Just as a parent and a brother, sister, when you see your family suffer, It hurts more. No doubt for Mary Magdalene as she sees her dear saviour suffer. The pain and the anguish for her was huge. I came across this quote from a well-known Puritan. He was called Bishop Andrews and he said this, she was last at his cross and first at his grave. She stayed the longest and was at the tomb the soonest. She could not rest until she was up to seek him. She sought him while it was still dark, even before she had light to see him by. How beautifully put. She was there, the last to leave. She must have been. because she knew where they had put his body. She knew those two secret disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, came and took the body and she knew where it had been laid. Therefore, she was probably one of the last to leave the scene at Golgotha. The last to leave, as they took the body down from the cross. She couldn't stay away any longer. She had to be the first before it was light to go with the women. Turn over to John 20, we see these parallel passages, we read them both. One makes it seem, just in case you see a contradiction, as though only Mary went. The other passage that we read said that the women went, but what's clear is that Mary got there first. In her enthusiasm, she went ahead, just as John ran faster than Simon Peter. So we come to the fourth C, and we see her confusion. Here she is at the tomb, verse 11 of John 20. But Mary stood without, outside at the sepulchre weeping. We can't understand what was going through her mind and heart. But her world had collapsed. Everything that she loved, everything that she desired, everything that she was pursuing for the past two or three years was shattered. What will become of him? It seems as though she was going with spices, anointments, perfumes to anoint the body as was their custom. She was going for, as it was put, a fragrant final memoir of her dear savior. She didn't go with any expectation. She went just to do a love offering, a fragrant final token. And she's weeping. She saith unto them, because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. She still thinks he's dead. She hasn't even occurred to her that he has risen from the dead. And when she had thus said, verse 14, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and it still doesn't occur to her that it's him. She knew not that it was Jesus. Do you know sometimes that's true of us, isn't it? The Lord comes and meets with us in the world. He comes and meets with us in a situation in life where we feel utterly overwhelmed and we don't know that he's with us and there. And soon he speaks. Jesus saith unto her, woman, Why are you overwhelmed with grief? Why are you weeping? Who are you seeking? And she's supposing him, so often we're the same, supposing him to be somebody else. No, it's the voice, the voice of God, it's Christ. Sayeth unto him, sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou has laid him and I will take him away still. the penny hasn't dropped, or the teaching, or the prophecy of the Old Testament, or the evidence that had unfolded before her eyes, all that was before her eyes now and still. It's as though scales and blinkers are upon the eyes. Is that true of you? Is it true of somebody tonight? You haven't seen the risen Christ. You haven't come to see who He is and heard His voice, unmistakably to be Him. Jesus saith unto her, one word. One word, the world came into existence. One word. and this woman's shattered, broken life is put back together better than it ever was before. Now it will have power. The tears are removed. Mary She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, now, this is her Lord and her Saviour. Yes, she'd been healed, she'd been cleansed, she'd been forgiven, she'd been transformed, but her faith was weak. She needed to hear the affirming voice of Christ, Mary, which is to say, Rabboni, Master. And so he tells her, don't touch me, I'm now a spirit. I haven't yet ascended to my father. Go and tell, go and tell my brethren. The confusion is going to lift. She's going to see it all clearer than day. And she gets an instruction, go to my brethren, say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father, to my God and your God. And she goes. And here's the fifth C. The confusion has gone. Now she sees it so clearly. He's died. He's risen again. And there is power in the resurrection. Her whole life is now filled with power. And she's going to go and tell others. And that's what we must do. If you are a secret, quiet, Shamed? Embarrassed believer? You see Mary Magdalene, what does she do? She gets the instruction, she goes and she speaks the things which have been told her. Verse 19, then the same day at evening, This is what we would call the Lord's Day. What a good day to tell others of the Lord Jesus and the risen Christ being the first day of the week when the doors were shut. They're all in fear, but she's not. She comes where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews and came Jesus and stood in the midst. She's told Simon, Peter, and John, and they don't believe. Do you know when we go and tell people, very often they won't believe us. But if the Lord opens the heart, and if the Lord comes and meets with them, and if the Lord calls that person's name just once, they will come, and they will believe. We're the ones that are messengers. But the Lord is the one that opens hearts. This is what he does to the disciples who didn't believe. He came and stood in the midst and saith unto them, peace be unto you. What conviction this woman now had. Can you imagine the early church? They're meeting others, fearful Jews, who know that they may well lose their life. There were many, many martyrs in the early years of the church, and this woman, Mary Magdalene, she would go and say, this is what he did for me. You know what my life was like. I was a famous woman. And look at me now, clothed and in a sound mind, so to speak. Look at me. I had no dignity. I had no control. And now I tell anyone of him, the risen Christ, I saw him die. I was nearly the last there. And I saw him rise. I was the first there. And I went and told and nobody believed. And then he appeared again and again. How many souls do you think that woman brought to the foot of the cross in their heart. How many trophies of grace like her were gathered into the church? Those 120 that came in Acts 1, how many were part of her testimony? I'm speculating, but she was closer to the cross and to the tomb than anybody. What a witness, what a testimony of transformation, what a reminder of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, just one word, and this woman is empowered. What a difference it made to those apostles as they would go into cities in Greece and the whole city was turned upside down because they knew the power of the resurrection. What a testimony this woman would have, what devotion, what love, what a witness, What an example for us, should we not be more like Mary Magdalene, of whom we know so little, and yet we know what we need to know. We know the bits that are relevant for our lives today. She believed. She was devoted. She spoke. Others disbelieved and then believed. And she was there. I've got no doubt Acts 1.14 when it says, the women, that includes Mary Magdalene. She was a pillar of that early Jerusalem church. I have no shadow of a doubt, her testimony would have been told and retold a thousand times. And many, I'm sure, were led to Christ. Amazing grace. in Mary Magdalene's life. Praise God. May there be many others in our day and age.