you so so Good morning and welcome, welcome to all. Surely we serve our risen Savior. And each Sunday, each Lord's Day is a reminder of that truth, that Christ arose. on that first resurrection Sunday morning and so we rejoice in this truth Sunday by Sunday and we as we come to the end of the gospel of Mark we reflect on that great truth in a particular way this this Sunday morning. People of God, one announcement before our call to worship this Sunday morning, and that is a word of praise for the whole congregation, but especially for one couple in our congregation, Clay and Bree are expecting their first child. So we rejoice with them and we'll be praying for mother and for child and for father. People of God, As we come before the Lord, let us remember that he is holy. May all the earth keep silent before him, and may we begin with a moment of silent and reverent prayer. Yeah. Amen, if you would stand our call to worship coming from the Psalms from Psalm 99 the Lord reigns Let the people's tremble he sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake The Lord is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is He indeed Congregation, directing your attention to the bulletin, I ask, where does your help come from? Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Let us receive then God's greeting this morning. To the saints, faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied to you, Amen. People of God, let us open in song. Even as each Sunday, again, is a reminder of the resurrection, it is our passage this morning, coming to the end of March. So let's sing 360, Christ the Lord is risen today. Let's sing all the stanzas, one through four and six. One through four and six of 360. Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia! Praise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing the heavens and earth reply, Alleluia! Love's redeeming ♪ Fought the fight, the battle won ♪ ♪ Alleluia ♪ ♪ Though the suns he lifts his arm ♪ ♪ Alleluia ♪ ♪ Though he treads his blood no more ♪ ♪ Alleluia ♪ the gates Death in pain forbids him rise, Alleluia! Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia! Alleluia. Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia. Once denied, our souls to save? Alleluia. praise to thee We, we, we triumphant now, Alleluia! Hail the resurrection now, Alleluia! Amen, amen, praise to the Lord, all praise to him, all truth from him, including the truth of what is right and wrong, of what is required of us, of those requirements, which Jesus himself has perfectly lived out and fulfilled, even as he has not destroyed them. Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20, We begin reading at verse one. And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. Surely, as he was upon this earth when asked about the law, giving the perfect summary, our Lord, quoting from the Old Testament, said, the first and greatest commandment is this, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second commandment is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And so we have the positive summary to go with also the negatives, what we ought not to do. We are told on no uncertain terms what we must refrain from and what we must strive toward. People of God, let us come before our Lord in a prayer of confession this morning. Let's pray. Lord God of truth. You have spoken in the fullness of your revelation. What you require of us. And Lord, we come before you. Not as those. Who can keep your law, we come before you as sinners. We come before you as frail sinners. Those who are closer to death every day are bodies physically decaying. Those who commit sin against you, and therefore, those who are under the just judgment for which the wages of sin is death, Lord, we are those who are dying, Physically, we are those who are in a place of death spiritually without you. Lord, you are life and all life is in you alone. Direct our eyes, our hearts ever toward you. This is our prayer in Jesus' name, amen. People of God, the psalmist again gives us an expression for our need, for our stance before God. 131B. You may remain seated as we sing together the three stanzas. 131B. Canopy is my heart, canopy is my mind. I do not seek to know the things of wisdom that's divine. we are People of God, as we continue to work through the Old Testament for our assurances of pardon, we come to the Psalms for our assurance of pardon this morning. And Psalm 103 speaks about our very frame, about our need in that we cannot stop death. Psalm 103 verse 14, for he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust. Not only are we dust and that we are made from the dust, but we are dust that in this sin-cursed world, we will surely return to the dust. But there is one who has power over these things and power also over the soul to cleanse the soul. And this Psalm speaks about that as well. There is assurance of pardon, there is forgiveness of sins. by God's work and his love. Psalm 103 beginning at verse 6. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins. nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. People of God, he has made his ways known and he has made those ways known even clearer to us now. Not standing on the generations which merely came after Moses and seeing the acts of what he did to Israel, but no, we stand on the other side of the greater Moses. We stand on the other side of Jesus Christ himself. Forgiveness of sins through him. life and a physical frame of dust which can have hope and even resurrection glory through all of what he has done, through all of what Jesus has done, through his death, through his resurrection. There is assurance of forgiveness and life. People of God, this is our great and mighty God, the one before whom we come in prayer. Again, we have that note of thanks, baby on the way. Other notes of thanks. Even as, especially for Cal and for Bernie, this also is a note for praying for strength, and that is Bernie's move. Again, not a move which we wanted to see, but he's now in Beaver Dam. I believe his new address is in the bulletin. So we'll pray for him and for Cal who has lost his friend down the road, our two 90 plus year old saints. Been eating their meals together for five years and so now Bernie is down the road. Let's keep them both in prayer and Bernie's family as well. That Bernie would become quickly familiar with his new home, that it would be a blessing for him. Let's pray also for Linda and Naomi. They have a new home as well. And they moved in yesterday also. So we'll be praying for them. And we give thanks that there are many helping hands and that at least the bulk of things, not everything unpacked yet, but so there's a note of thanks for Keith. Sorensen, two notes of thanks. Number one, his pain is much reduced. Number two, he's able to eat some normal food for the first time in a long time. Maybe I should have asked Keith which one of those things was a bigger deal, that he had less pain or that he could eat custard. I don't know, but they're both reasons to rejoice. So people of God, we have much to give thanks for in congregational prayer this morning. Let us come before our Lord at this time. Lord God Almighty. Make us to bless your name, to know that life is in your name, to sing praises to your name. May our very soul rejoice in you. May we be satisfied in you, in the redemption, in the blessings, in the goodness with which you can satisfy. Lord, we pray that your rule would be established, that there would be many who would work as your kingdom servants upon this earth. And Lord, yes, we wait for your second coming, for the perfect and full establishment of your rule. Lord, we think of your angels, the mighty ones who obey your voice, Lord, we have thanks that the physical is not all there is. No, indeed, the physical only exists because you have created all things. And you yourself are spirit. And you yourself have a ministering spirits, ministering angels. And they do battle even against the demons. The demons who you struck the great and mighty blow against in your own first coming. The demons who also are cast into the eternal fire and the second death, as the apostle has said. Lord may then all give praise to you. May the very earth itself shout out praise to you, the maker of all things. May all your angels sing of your praises and may we sing also even in their presence for worshiping you is worship in the presence of angels. Lord, our Lord, make us to reflect upon this, to know the great privilege of coming before you on your day. Again, each Sunday be it a reminder that you have conquered death and so we now worship you in a special way on this one in seven day. Lord, be with the proclamation of your word, be with our gathering together. We give thanks for each saint which has the strength and upon whose heart you work to be here. And we pray that your word would be faithfully proclaimed and diligently heard, that you would impress upon us the truth of what you have done and bring us by your spirit to a place of trust and confidence and even assurance in you. Lord, there are many things to give thanks for within our congregation. Even in this last week, Lord, we give thanks for for a good announcement this very morning. We pray that you would be with Clay and with Bree. We give thanks for this baby in the womb. Lord, we pray that you would be with, especially mother and child, bring safely to that day of delivery. And Lord, watch over even now this little one. You knit together the little ones in the womb. And Lord, we think of then other babies in the womb. We think of The Freswick baby also, the Carsten baby. Lord, bring all three of these babies safely into the arms of their mothers and fathers and may they be a great blessing in the months to come. We pray that you would be with Keith Sorensen. We give thanks that in his continued and long and lengthy battle he has recovering from his surgery that he is not only has reduced pain but is also able to eat normal food. Lord we pray that you would continue to give him restored strength and comfort and we give thanks that yes he can even enjoy his his taste buds and have something such as custard to break up his diet, which has been so strict for a long time now. We pray that you would be with Linda and Naomi. Bless them in their new home. Give thanks for many hands and details that went well yesterday. We think also of Bernie and his new home. Lord, we We are sorry that his strength does not allow him to stay at Prairie Ridge of Upon, but we do give thanks that his mind is so sharp, even at the age of 96, that they needed a kind of medium place. And so Lord, we pray that the care that they can give at the Prairie Ridge Beaver Dam would be what he needs. and that you would help Bernie to be settled in quickly there in his new home, but be with his family, be with Bernie himself, be also with Cal, his brother in the Lord, who remains now in Waupon. Lord, may we, as the church family, comfort both of them and strengthen and encourage both of them at this time, even as they are so often an encouragement to to all of us, whoever sees them, whoever hears them, knows their care and love and prayers for this, your church, their church, Lord, be with each of them. Lord, our Lord, we pray that you would drive us in the midst of a thanksgiving, In the midst of praise and in the midst of prayers of supplication, Lord, in short, in all circumstances, drive us to you. Drive us to bring all cares and concerns and praises before you. And we give thanks, oh Lord, that you do hear all. and that though we are weak, you are strong. This we pray in Jesus' name, his mighty name, amen. People of God, let us stand together to sing our song of preparation 357. 357, let us stand to sing together. Day of resurrection, earth towed out of God. The Passover of God. It's the Passover of God. From death to life eternal. with hymns of victory. Our hearts be pure from evil, that we may see upright the Lord in praise eternal of resurrection light. Let all the world be joyful. For Christ the Lord hath risen, our joy hath had no end. Amen. People of God, let us turn now to Mark chapter 16, our last sermon. As we have worked through now, the gospel of Mark. Mark, the rapidly moving gospel. which slows down for those final days and hours in the life of Jesus. But now that, that abrupt, that fast paced nature of the gospel comes in to play again. And we have an abrupt ending before us. Again, there's a Bible study afterwards for any who desire to stay as we'll discuss why we end at verse eight. But here we come, the last eight verses of the gospel of Mark. Let us read together Mark chapter 16, verses one through eight. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are sometimes in stories what we might call a cliffhanger. Well, this is not a cliffhanger. This gospel ends abruptly, but really to see the answers of what's going on, we only need to go back one verse, and two verses, and we see the angel commanding what we ought to do, how we ought to do it. But by ending so abruptly, as one other of the 66 books of the Bible does, it forces us to reflect, to think, wait a second, what are they gonna do? What are they gonna do? Wait a second, what am I gonna do? What is my response to this news? There is again one other book that that ends so abruptly it is the end of the book of Jonah. Jonah is his His selfishness is exposed by the Lord in that Jonah cares about this plant, but not about the people of God. And then Jonah comes to this abrupt ending and God is speaking to Jonah and says, you have care for this plant. Will I not care for the people of this place, for even these Assyrians and even for their cattle? And then boom, it's done right there. And you're forced to think back and say, yes, do I care? Do I care for the spread of the news of who God is? Or am I like Jonah? We really have something very similar going on here at the end of Mark. But even as Mark does not give us the details of what the women do, it only tells us what they immediately do. We need to turn to the other Gospels to see to see how they went about the rest of that day and into Galilee. Even as it leaves us with uncertainty about what the women do and it leaves us to ask the question ourselves of what we will do, it leaves no doubt about what Jesus has done. It leaves no doubt about what Jesus has done because Jesus is risen. and Jesus does come for his people. Jesus is risen. He comes for his people. And so our three points together, people of God, what to do, the good news, and then again, what to do, but no longer a question mark. People of God, let us And let us consider, first of all, these women, and they're coming and they're thinking, what to do? What are we gonna do? How are we gonna roll this stone away? How are we going to do what we set out to do? And what are they setting out to do? Well, they're setting out to give honor, to give honor to the body of Jesus, to anoint it. They bring spices. They are going to honor the body of Jesus. A couple things to note here. First of all, this is an important task. We spoke last week, so we'll not repeat this too much, but we spoke about how it was important to care for the body of one who had died and how providentially there are those two hours when Jesus can be brought to the tomb, when he can be buried, sealed in the tomb before the Sabbath begins. And so that is done, but now the women want to bring more spices. They want to anoint him. They want to give that care for the dead body of Jesus, what they think is the dead body of Jesus. And so they come to do that. Notice when they do it. When the Sabbath was passed. Luke 23 makes it even more clear why they waited. Of course, For those who hear 10 commandments read each and every Lord's day, you probably already know. But Luke 23 says it this way, verses 55 and 56, the women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and saw how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices, anointments. On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. See, taking care of the body of Jesus, that's pretty important thing, isn't it? Is this a work of necessity? Not even this is a work of necessity or mercy. The women will wait till the day has passed. Why? Because they did it according to the commandment. Now Luke, is writing in New Testament times. He's writing to a Gentile audience. Does he say that this was one of the man-made following of rules which was so common in the pharisaical system? No. No. They did it as they ought to have done. Luke speaks positively of this. And Mark, says it more quickly, but he says it essentially the same thing. When the Sabbath had passed, they went to do this task. Now we live in a day and age in which all kinds of Sunday activities are increasing, right? Let's just list off a few of them. Birthdays, funerals, weddings, open houses, all these kinds of things. They didn't happen on Sunday. Now they do. Or maybe if weddings did happen on Sunday, it was, you know, small local church affairs, and the whole church was invited, and you had a wedding right after the service, and then you had some ham on buns, and you didn't have anybody come and cater, right? Because what's a caterer? How does the Ten Commandments say it? You nor your male servant, nor your female servant. Well, who is that? Who is that today? We don't have male and female servants in our home, but we have Waiters, we have caterers, we have grocers. That's the man servant and female servant. It's not complicated. There are all kinds of things which can be done, which could theoretically be done on this day. What is one of the things that we can say as the people of God, when we would say why we would not do these things? Well, we can simply say it this way. You know those women, who received from the angel the first revelatory word about why the tomb was empty. Those faithful women who saw the death and the burial and came back to the tomb. Those women to whom Jesus first appeared. Those women, those faithful women. No, they're not perfect. We see that again in our third point, no one is perfect except for Jesus, but these faithful women, what did they do? They did not even care for the body of Jesus Christ on the Sabbath. Therefore, I don't think I need to do this on the Sabbath. There's many ways that we could speak about this, but this is one of the ways that we could speak about, think about why we treat the Lord's day differently. Now, of course, now the Lord's Day is the Lord's Day. That transition took a little bit of time, but it happened very rapidly. We might even say the very next week. We will now begin to worship and celebrate and set apart one day in seven in a particular way. Now, this day, the day when Christ is risen, but on that, what we might call the last Saturday Sabbath, We have one final example of those who rested according to the commandment, as Luke tells us. And then this is the rest of Jesus himself. His resurrection will bring the new Lord's day, the new day of worship. There's almost an echo of creation, isn't there? The great act of creation for which God created the earth, all that is in them, in six days and rested upon the seventh day. Now that Sabbath, that Saturday Sabbath, from the great work of redemption itself, suffering for sins upon the cross, and then waiting, resting until the new day, the new Sunday, the new Lord's day to rise again from the dead. There's even an echo of the great work of creation here in the great work of salvation by Jesus the Son. What to do? Well, let's wait and then let's go and let's show respect. Now the waiting, again, the gospels speak of this positively. But the fact that they thought Jesus was dead, well, the angels say, didn't he tell you? And Jesus says, didn't I tell you? This is not such a positive thing. Now, the Lord is gracious. He speaks to them through the angel and then through himself. But here is an example of how even those who are faithful, even those who, unlike 11 of the, well, 10 of the 11 faithful disciples, Judas, of course, is not there either. Unlike the faithful disciples who all of them except John will only watch the crucifixion from afar. No, these women were there. They were there at the cross. They were there at the burial, but They were still trapped. Even these faithful women were trapped in human thinking when it came to the resurrection, weren't they? Jesus had said, I will arise. The angel reminds them of this. Jesus himself will remind them of this. Again, that's recorded in John. John gives us the most detail about what goes on here. Mark gives the very brief account. But what are they? They're trapped in human thinking. What is human thinking? Human thinking is, I have a hard time believing what I can't see. I have a hard time believing that God could really say, and the stars and create the billions upon billions of stars just like that. I have a hard time believing because every time I see a body die, I don't ever see it rise again from the dead. I have a hard time believing that that's possible. I can't see angels and demons. angels and demons, so I have a hard time believing that there's something beyond this physical realm. I have a hard time believing these things. I'm trapped in human thinking. Human thinking, which, of course, makes no sense, because you also, you don't see life come from non-life, all those kinds of things, too. But really, there's just all these various ways to be trapped in human thinking, right? Well, even the faithful can be trapped in human thinking. They were not expecting to find this tomb empty. Even though Jesus had said that he would rise from the dead, people of God do not be trapped in human thinking. Do not, here is the appropriate time to say, put God in a box. Of course, Jesus Christ can rise from the dead. He has this power. He has all power. He willingly submitted himself to death for his people. He has power over the grave. Do not be trapped in human thinking. Do not be surprised and what Jesus has done and can do. And this is the good news. This is the good news that the stone is rolled away. and that the tomb is empty. And even here, we're in need of an explanation, right? Because we might still be trapped in human thinking. We might still think, well, maybe it was stolen away, and that's the rumor Matthew tells us that the Jews tried to spread. Even when the soldiers come back and say, no, there was an angel, and the angel struck us down. There's a resurrection. There's something supernatural going on here. And the Jews say, well, here, we'll just pay you and just go and tell people that you were knocked out and that the disciples stole the body, right? No, no, no. This is an empty tomb because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And so we have a revelation of that truth. We're not just left with the image of the empty tomb. We are given an explanation for why it is empty. And as so often happens in the history of Revelation of God great and momentous declarations are given through his angels and so now we have this again there's the angel sitting there and he speaks and he says Jesus of Nazareth let us remove all doubt let us remove all doubt about who we are speaking about and Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was crucified, the one who you know, the one who healed you, the one who you traveled with, the one who you met in Galilee, the one who was crucified, the one who was killed, the one who was put to death, this one, Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, he is risen. Now we're gonna remove all doubt about why he's not here. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. This is the good news. Now the angel doesn't use the word good news. We actually have to go all the way back to Mark 1 verse 1. The beginning of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God. And now here's the last part of the good news. Not only that he suffered and died for sinners, but that he also rose. He is risen. He is not here. He has conquered death. He has completed everything. He is Jesus, which means Savior. He was a real person. He was from Nazareth. He really died. He was crucified. He really rose from the dead. He is risen. He is not here. So this is the good news. So what do we do with good news? Go tell, verse seven. Go tell. We know what to do with good news. That's anticipating already our third point. So let's reflect just a little bit more about what it means that death is conquered. We can think of it in terms of two separate but related questions. Do you fear angels? Do you fear death? Because you are either going to see the Son of Man coming with angels or you are going to die. You are either one day closer to your death Or if the Lord comes again before you die physically, you are one day closer to the day when the Son of Man comes from the clouds with his angels, his holy ones, Mark 8, 38, Mark 13, 26, and 27. You are one day closer than you were yesterday to either seeing the angels or seeing death. That's it, those are the only two possibilities in how your life will end. So, is this good news? Usually, it is the response to be alarmed when angels are seen. That is the response time and time again. It is overwhelming to be confronted with the divine. And so, What will be your response if you do not die? But God comes from the clouds with the angels behind him in his train. Now this is good news if you repent of your sins and you trust and believe in Jesus Christ, that this death was for you, that he died for your sins. And then when you see those angels coming, you need not be frightened. Then when you see the Son of Man descending in glory with the angels behind Him, you need not be frightened. But of course, if you are trapped in your sins, if you do not repent, if you are trapped in your sins, including the sin of human thinking, and you deny that that really is going to happen, then when you see the angels coming with Jesus leading the way, then you will be afraid and you should be afraid. Because without trust and belief, you don't have the good news. Well, what about death itself? Scripture again and again speaks about death negatively. Death is not a good thing. Death is part of the curse. Death is not part of the very good creation. Death is part of the curse for rebelling against God. And so that death now is part of all of the groaning that we see. That death now surrounds us, not only in the human realm, but also for all of the animals. And so there's death, there's crumbling, there's decay, there's disease everywhere. And death again and again is described negatively. The only time death is ever described with any kind of positive language is when it's speaking about the death of those who believe in Jesus and the death of Jesus himself with the resurrection that comes after it. That's the only time we see anything positive about death. So we can speak about the death of David, which is called the death of good old age. We can think of the words of the psalmist about how the death of saints is beautiful in the sight of the Lord. But these are the only times that we can speak about death positively. This is the only kinds of times that scripture speaks about death positively. And even in 1 Corinthians 15, where we read about the sting of death being removed, even there, it is still appropriately called the last enemy because death is still the last enemy. So even for the believer, death is still the last enemy. Death is still something not good. But for those who die in the Lord, for those who share in the resurrection of Jesus, and that's what 1 Corinthians 15 is all about, that's why the sting of death is removed because Christ himself is the first fruits of all believers, of all those who trust and believe in him, of all those who know this good news, repent of sins and look to him, believe in him. People of God, this is the only way we can think about death and it not be truly fearsome and negative. And so we spoke about the angels. The only other possibility, if you don't see the angels, it's because the Lord tarries and you die. And we're all one day closer to our death than we were yesterday. If you do not trust and believe in Jesus Christ, that death is a terrifying thought. You might not say it out loud, but the psalmist says it's a terrifying thought and you know it too. But if you trust and believe, then even that last enemy has lost its sting. Even that last enemy has lost its sting. It's, you know, we think of the word sting, you know, that can, something that we're afraid of, right? We're afraid of hornets. We're afraid of the animals that can deliver the sting. Well, death is the sting so much greater than that. So children, when you run away from a bee or run away from a hornet, or maybe not just children, when you run away from bees and hornets, this is only a very small illustration of this much bigger enemy, death and the sting which death can bring. And it's removed only by Jesus Christ, who himself did rise. And so your death, when you die in the Lord is a death which is followed by resurrection. So now we come to that third point, and it's what to do. And even as we spoke in the introduction, that the ending leaves us thinking, well, what did the women do? What will I do? What we must do, that's not in question. That the angel says clearly. And so we only need to go back one verse further. Go tell. Go tell. Speak of this good news. It's the only ultimate good news. Speak of it. Speak of it loudly. Speak of it as a woman. Speak of it as a man. Now, The witness of women in the Jewish world, this is one of the commandments that they had added. Of course, the Old Testament doesn't say this, but the Jews had added this commandment, basically this, if you're a woman, your testimony doesn't count for anything. So you could only be convicted by two witnesses. If one of those witnesses was a man and one was a woman, well, that didn't count. There was only one witness. The witness of a woman didn't count for anything. The Roman world in general said the same thing. I'm not exactly sure which came first. Of course, the world has a tendency to impact the way the church looks at things. But in the Roman world in general and in the religious Jewish world, we might call it this way, the pharisaical world, there was an added rule that said the witness of women counts for nothing. And there's also some evidence that the early church was impacted by this, that there was some level of embarrassment that the first witnesses to the resurrection were women, the people of God. There is no embarrassment. The witness of a woman is equally as valuable, 100% equally as valuable as the witness of a man. That's true in a courtroom. That's true in the scriptures. And so, Again, John gives us more details. The women actually, they go, they're so scared when they see the angel sitting upon the stone that they run away. They find Peter and John. Peter and John run, they go in, they don't hear a word from the angels, they run away, the women run back, then they talk to the angel. So we get all the details in John, right? And what does it lay out before us? It lays before us that these women are, they're scared, they're scared They're scared spitless. They're not going to say anything. Then Jesus himself appears, not only the angel. John 20 tells us about how Mary Magdalene is the first to see Jesus. He says to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you had carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him. But Jesus said to her, Mary. She heard him and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. And Jesus said to her, do not cling for me for I have not yet ascended to the father, but go to my brothers and say to them, And so now she'll have the commandment to go tell again from Jesus himself. And now she will go and tell. And of course the disciples must be confronted and some of them doubt as well. Until finally Jesus removes all doubt through his personal appearing, his personal appearing to many. The witness of women is very valuable. Now, Scripture does teach that offices of authority in the church, Old Testament and New Testament, the Levites in the Old Testament, we see it clearly through that. Corinthians, Timothy speaks clearly in New Testament times as well, that this is true, that women do not have the right positions of authority in the church. But what about the right to speak about the truth, even to correct public teaching? If anything, the implication is that Priscilla is kind of leading and Aquila is going with Priscilla to correct the teaching of Apollos. And so when your pastor here says anything which would not be faithful to the word of God, search the scriptures, and that's the duty of all men and all women in this church. And we can ask another question. Well, what about this? Since scripture does say that the authoritative office in the church does belong to the man since he was created first, does that mean that we can't even quote from women when we're preaching? Once in a while, your pastor, especially if it's an illustration or an application, will quote from a Christian teacher. Can your pastor quote from a woman, from the pulpit? Certainly I can. Certainly. Anne Bradstreet on the mature Christian response to the trials of life. Elizabeth Elliott on the heart of missions. Johnny Erickson Tata on a Christian facing suffering and disability. Nancy Guthrie on seeing Christ clearly through all of the scriptures. It's absolutely appropriate to quote from these faithful women on these things. People of God, the witness of women, and women reflecting deeply upon Christian truths are things which we should very much hear and value. Really, it's measured the same way the teaching of a man is measured. It's all measured by this one word. It's all measured by this one word, which by the way, includes not only songs of Moses and David, but also songs of Miriam and Deborah and Anna. So the Lord is pleased to use this testimony, which the world at the time totally despised. And Jesus It's even specially clear. Picks out Peter in a particular way. The one who had just denied the Savior three times. Yes, I will come to Peter too. People of God, our Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. the women, all the running back and forth, and the disciples, and the running back and forth, and the doubting, and the not understanding the things which God had clearly said, He will remove all doubt. Let us, people of God, know without doubt this truth. And may it not be a question mark, but may it be the truth that we would go and speak about this good news, that we would go and speak about this truth. This is the only good news that Jesus died and was buried. And he also rose and that he did this for sinners. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, our Lord, May we know the truth of what you have done, and may we rejoice in the truth that you come to comfort, to deliver, to assure your people. You have not only accomplished the work of salvation through your once for all sacrifice, You also come to your people personally. Lord, come to us. Come to each one of us this morning. Come to those who love you and have loved you for even many years. Assure them of the truth. Come to those who deny you, who have heard this truth and yet do not believe. Work, oh God, in the hearts of those who are here this very morning. And as this good news goes forth, work in hearts all around the world this good news. We pray in the name of our risen savior, amen. Let us stand and sing regarding this resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 366, let us stand and sing. ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ The strife is o'er, the battle done, the victory of life is won. The three sad days have quickly said, from the dead. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to our risen head. All glory to Alleluia. Alleluia. Amen, people of God. It is time now for our morning gifts and offerings. This morning, that's for the building fund, then our benediction, and closing doxology 560. Praise God. Yeah. Yeah. If you would stand, fable, let us hear the parting blessing of our God. Now may the God of peace, who brought you again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, may he equip you with everything good, that you may do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. ♪ Shout from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above the heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ and and so