John 20:11-18 "What Commitment Looks Like"

well i just dropped all my notes on the floor and i've never had a lady have to help me pick up what i have dropped i think these are in right order so if we take a left turn someplace you'll know you'll know what's happened so what a joy it is to hear one another sing these these hymns uh it encourages us you know when we sing there is a vertical aspect where we sing to the lord but there's also a horizontal aspect where we encourage one another as we hear one another sing these great truths and so what a joy to be able to sing over a thousand tongues to sing charles wesley wrote that him and it may have been on the occasion of his conversion to christ or maybe a one-year anniversary but we don't really know but reflecting upon him coming to faith in christ he wrote oh for a thousand tongues to sing well if you're new to trinity bible we're in the midst of a verse by verse study through the book of john the gospel of john which just happens to be i think my favorite book unless i'm preaching another book and then that one is my favorite book it's kind of like which is your favorite child and it's that that can vary from day to day so uh but we're in the gospel of of john and if you have your bible with you i want to begin by reading what will be our passage that we will be looking at today john chapter 20. we'll be looking at verses 11 through 18 and we've come in this portion of the gospel of john immediately following the crucifixion of our lord and savior jesus christ and we have looked at the resurrection in fact last lord's day we saw the resurrection of christ and so we now come to one of the great responses to the resurrection of the lord jesus christ and it involves mary magdalene so the title of this message is what commitment looks like what commitment looks like i want to begin reading in verse 11 then i'll pray and then we'll look carefully together at the passage but beginning in verse 11 this is god's god's word but but mary was standing outside the tomb weeping and so as she wept she stooped and looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and one at the feet where the body of jesus had been lying and they said to her woman why are you weeping and she said to them because they have taken away my lord and i do not know where they have laid him when she had said this she turned around and saw jesus standing there and did not know that it was jesus jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you've taken him away tell me where you have laid him and i will take him away jesus said to her mary she turned and said to him in hebrew robonai which means teacher jesus said to her stop clinging to me for i've not yet ascended to the father but go to my brethren and say to them i send to my father and your father and my god and your god mary magdalene came announcing to the disciples i have seen the lord and that he had said these things to her this is the reading of god's infallible word let us go to him in prayer father what a gift you have given to us to give us your written word and how you have preserved the bible down through the centuries this perfectly accurate account of truth and in this case what took place 2000 years ago were it not for this record we would not know what took place after the resurrection and for our hearts to read this and see this it it excites us and we are grateful that mary magdalene was so committed to our lord and savior jesus christ and so as we look at this today i pray that you would use it to challenge us to be all the more resolute and committed to christ make us as mary magdalene was one fully dedicated to christ lord would you bless everyone who is in this building and everyone who is watching by live stream open the windows of heaven and pour out the fullness of your blessing upon us we pray this in jesus name amen in these verses mary magdalene really becomes a picture an example for us of what true commitment to the lord jesus christ looks like you see mary didn't have just truth in her head and it just stayed intellectually in her head but it had worked its way down into her heart and into her soul and it had energized her life and it had really welded and forged a commitment to christ that we see in this in this passage and really the key as we look at this passage to her commitment is who she understood jesus christ to be it's mentioned twice in this passage once in verse 13 and once in verse 18 as she refers to jesus as my lord you'll note that in verse 13 they have taken away my lord and then in verse 18 she said to the disciples when she ran to them i have seen the lord and for jesus to be her lord very simply means that she lives her entire life in service of her lord she lives her whole life to please the lord she's come to a point where she has turned away from living for this world and she is now living for the lord and what he teaches is her command and the example that he has set for her is the very pattern and and footsteps that that she follows and so we're not surprised to see her here searching for the body of jesus to further prepare his body for burial because he's her lord if you're a christian jesus is your lord every true believer every true disciple everyone who has been born again by the spirit of god you have jesus christ as your lord and he's now the master of your life he's now the ruler of your life and he sets the course he sets the agenda he sets the direction for everything about your life you're no longer in control in fact you're in the back seat he's in the front seat in fact he's behind the steering wheel and he's got the road map and he is driving and directing your life into the very center of his will and so mary is one who's a true believer because jesus is her lord now by way of introduction what do we know about mary magdalene what do we know about her well mary came from the town of magnola that's why she's called mary magdalene means mary of magnola and magdala was to the north of jerusalem on the sea of galilee on the western shore the sea of galilee between capernaum and tiberius and she was a woman who had a very a very soiled past she had lived a very sinful life in fact her life before meeting the lord was so sinful that luke 8 verse 2 tells us that she was possessed by seven demons not just one she was demon possessed seven times over and that would tell us that because of the sin that she was involved in that she had opened her life up to all of the forces of the kingdom of darkness and and they just came parading into her life and took over her life and dominated her life under the power of demons and when she met jesus jesus expelled those demons jesus sent them away and she gave her life to jesus christ she was converted to christ she was a true believer and at that moment jesus became the lord of her life and she was so so committed to jesus you need to know this she was so committed to jesus that she was one of a small handful of women who financially underwrote the ministry of jesus that's in luke 8 verses 2 and 3 and a handful of women and mary magdalene was one of those they they personally supported the disciples in the lord jesus christ she was all in with the lord and she followed the lord she followed him from way up north the sea of galilee she followed him all the way down to the south to jerusalem away from home she just couldn't let jesus out of her sight and we don't know all the the interaction that took place but we do know that as jesus came to the end of his life as he was arrested as he stood those six trials and as he was crucified we know that all of jesus's other disciples they just fled for the hills they hid behind closed doors but not mary magdalene there was one disciple who stayed loyal to jesus in the tough time and that's the author of this book the gospel of john and so john no doubt even had interaction with mary magdalene in this close proximity surrounding the the end of his life and mary magdalene when everyone else was running out she came running in and she stood at the foot of the cross she stood there with jesus's mother and she was with him all the way to the end because he has changed her life he's given her a new life he has expelled the demons he has washed the sin away the heavy burden of sin has been removed from her shoulders and so she's there at the cross and she sees him actually die she hears those last words it is finished father received my spirit and she's still there when joseph of arimathea and nicodemus go to pilate and ask for the body of christ to be taken down from the cross so they can bury him mary magdalene obviously must have followed them to the tomb where they buried jesus she wanted to know where my savior my lord is even when he's dead and so she sees where the tomb is that's why she knows which tomb to go to and so now it is sunday morning it is dark and she's come to the tomb with mary the mother of jesus and we pick up this narrative but what we see here is a woman who is sold out to the lordship of jesus christ we love this woman because of what loyalty and allegiance she has to the lord jesus christ and as we look at this today i want this to be an encouragement to you i want it to be a challenge to you no matter what your past is it doesn't matter how you start the race what matters is how you end the race and it doesn't matter what took place in your life in the past how soiled and how sinful it may have been when you come to know the lord jesus christ you become a new creature you're given a new start you're in a new race and you can end strong and that is the case with mary so much so she finds herself in the bible to be set forth as an example to to each and every one of us so i want us to observe mary i want to be like mary i want you to be like mary and so i have five headings i want to set before you as we walk through this passage and i want you to note first mary's devotion that that's in verse 11. mary's devotion as as this scene begins we see mary's listen to this undying devotion for her dying savior she has an undying devotion for her dying savior so we begin in verse 11 but mary was standing outside the tomb we know that this mary refers to mary magdalene because she's mentioned as such in verse 1 and verse 18 and she was standing outside the tomb now just to remind you the tomb was carved out of the side of a of a mountain and it was large enough for the whole family to be buried in in the proper time and there would be a ledge that would be carved out of the side of the mountain inside the tomb and mary knows where they laid jesus and so she has come to this tomb she's already been to this tomb once and that was in verses one and following and as she's at the tomb she she left and ran to tell peter and john that he's not here and they come running back and they beat her back to the tomb and there they see that the lord is not in the tomb they leave mary now comes back for the second time to this tomb and as she returns she really has come she has no idea jesus has been raised from the dead she just wants him to have a all of the the the proper acou accessories of a of a a rightful burial i mean two men have buried her that we need a woman to make sure that that the housekeeping is done correctly here only the men laughed but i want to tell you wild horses could not have kept mary away from this tomb and we read she's weeping she's weeping uncontrollably she has heartbroken grief it's bitter sorrow she is shattered i mean we could say this is like an emotional meltdown for her the one who has released her from her sins the one who has dramatically altered her life and now he's dead and we read and so as she wept and the idea here is she just kept weeping she could not stop weeping and we know why because he who and she who is forgiven much loves much and so she she wept and stooped and looked inside the tomb it would have been a a small entrance uh short enough that a stone had been rolled in front of it and matthew tells us that an earthquake just rolled that stone away not to let jesus out but to let mary and the disciples in to see that he's been raised from the dead and she looked inside the tomb she's looking for the the dead body of jesus so before we go any further this is what devotion to christ looks like and what challenges me is that mary is more devoted to christ thinking he's dead than so often i can be knowing he's alive this mary's devotion you need to deepen your devotion to the lord jesus so second i want you to note mary's discovery in verse 12 mary's discovery as as mary stoops to look inside the tomb she makes an amazing discovery and we read in verse 12 and she saw two angels in white you talk about a discovery i mean can you imagine looking into your closet this morning at home and there's two angels in white in in your closet i mean you would just be taken back by that and so she saw these two angels in in white and mary does not know that they are angels she just assumes that they're that they're they're two men because they have assumed a human-like form and appearance that they they do not have wings here despite whatever portrait you you've seen uh they are very like and in fact in in mark's gospel mark 16 5 they are referred to as young men two young men that strong and and able and and no doubt muscular and in matthew's gospel it says that their appearance was like lightning that their clothing was white as snow i mean their face was almost glowing with the radiance of having been in the presence of god and in luke's gospel cross reference it says that they are in dazzling clothing well i looked up this word dazzling and it just means flashing forth with light and so this dark tomb is is lit up with the face and the clothing of these two angels who have descended from the throne of grace and from the heights of heaven and have come into this this tomb and not the next word sitting they're just sitting there as though they're waiting for mary to come as if they're waiting on a bus as if they're waiting for mary to come and for whoever else will be coming in and the two angels it says at the end of verse 12 one at the head and one at the feet where the body of jesus had been lying so they're like bookends on both ends of where the body had been laid on that ledge uh horizontal to the ground though the body is no longer there uh the the linen wrappings are there and the head covering has been folded up and is neatly placed there by the way how did you leave your bed this morning and so they're just seated there one on both sides of where the body would have been and what should strike us is how important the resurrection of jesus christ is from the dead that there would be two angels dispatched from realms of glory to descend down into this into this empty tomb there were many spectacular events that took place during the the life of the lord jesus christ him walking on water him raising lazarus from the dead and there's no mention of angels there but this is so significant that that jesus has conquered death that that jesus now is the prince of life that jesus now has the keys of of the grave in his hand that no one will enter or leave the grave apart from his sovereign authority this is such a defining significant moment that there are two angels inside this tomb as if to punctuate the importance of what just took place this leads now to number three mary's despair verse 13. mary's despair mary still knows nothing of the resurrection of jesus and she she just remains in turmoil and distress and so it says they said to her the two angels said to her and by the way here not only do they assume a human-like body but they can speak in human language in understandable language and they converse here with mary and they ask her this very simple question woman which is a term of respect why are you weeping and this is actually a gentle rebuke as if to say woman get a hold of yourself this is inappropriate if you only knew now what you're about to find out in just a few moments you would not be weeping and so woman why are you weeping so she said to them to the two angels because they have taken away my lord that's my lord who's missing my my lord's body is not here my lord's body has been taken someplace and she does not know who or where she can only assume when she says they have taken my lord's body away that she's referring to some grave robbers who have broken in and and and stolen the body of jesus because he had become so controversial but what a statement of faith this is he's still my lord it doesn't matter how dark the circumstances are it doesn't matter how bleak the outlook it doesn't matter that he has crucified been crucified and has been buried he's still my lord and nothing will break the bond that i have with my lord not even death itself now what does the word lord mean i think it's important that we understand what what this means as she is identifying him as my lord and by the way the word my is very important it's very personal is it not jesus needs to be your personal lord not just your wife's lord or your in-laws lord or the churches lord you need to have a personal relationship with jesus christ and he needs to be your lord now the word lord it means master it means ruler it means sovereign one it means the one possessing all authority over a person's life and authority all over all the circumstances of a person's life and for her to identify jesus as her lord means that she has she has surrendered her life to jesus christ that she is now in submission to the word of jesus that she is loyal to this person she is committed to his kingdom that she is sold out to to his will she's no longer living for herself and with her own agenda and going her own way no jesus is lord and i now follow him wherever he leads me that's what it means for jesus to be her lord though in the confusion of the moment she does not know that he has been raised from the dead but i want to underscore with you right now that jesus must be your lord if you are to be a true believer if you are to actually enter through the narrow gate that leads into the kingdom of heaven romans 10 verse 9 says if you confess with your mouth jesus as lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved what do you what must you do to be saved you must confess with your mouth at the moment of conversion jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god has raised him from the dead acts 16 verse 30 the philippian jailer asked paul sir what must i do to be saved and in verse 31 paul said believe in the lord jesus and you will be saved today there are some people who want to make a dichotomy between jesus as savior and jesus as lord we've talked about this before but i just need to continue to reinforce this some people think well i can have jesus his savior and he can wash away all my sins but i can just now i want to live and go my own way and do my own thing and maybe 10 years from now i'll surrender my life to jesus when i get in a crisis or something no you don't get jesus in halves it's all or nothing and jesus as savior and jesus as lord cannot be separated in fact he paul said to the philippian jailer believe in the lord jesus jesus means jehovah saves jesus means savior god is savior and that's attached to lord believe in the lord jesus and you will be saved so i need to ask you have you ever believed in your heart that god has raised jesus from the dead and have you confessed with your mouth jesus as lord over your life it's absolutely necessary in order to be a christian but look at the end of verse 13 she says and i do not know where they have laid him as you can see she still has no idea that jesus has been raised from the dead she does not know who has taken the body of jesus she does not know where they have laid him she only knows one thing he's my lord he's my lord and the same is true for our lives we don't have to know all of the how and the why and the where in our lives you just need to know that jesus is lord over your life because he knows how and where and what well this leads us now to verse 14 mary's discernment that this really is where the this account becomes very exciting uh mary now makes a discovery as she discerns jesus is alive so look at verse 14 when when she had said this she turned around and saw jesus standing there now she still does not know that this is jesus who is standing there and the fact that she turned around to see jesus indicates that the angels are in front of her and jesus has now appeared and come in from behind her and she now turns around to see jesus now we don't know why she turned around it could have been that the eye contact of the angels looking into her eyes suddenly now shift to the one who's standing behind mary which would cause her to turn around and look the text doesn't tell us or it could be that when jesus came walking into this tomb now it may have been the two angels just fell to their knees and and worshiped him that would cause you to to turn around we don't really know why they turned around or it could be that the angels pointed at jesus standing behind her the text does not tell us but what we do know is that when jesus walked into that tomb she turned around and she saw jesus and verse 14 continues and did not know it was jesus now how could she not know it was jesus well she was prevented from from recognizing him as her lord almost like a uh a cloudy veil uh fell over her eyes preventing her from seeing him for for who he is he's in his resurrected body but but the the limitation is with her in verse 15 jesus said to her woman why are you weeping she's heard that question already that indicates she's still weeping she cannot stop weeping this has ripped her heart out why are you why are you weeping and then he says whom are you seeking this is one of those questions that we call a rhetorical question that's not intended to gather information it's intended to make a statement it's intended to make a point and when jesus says whom are you seeking he is leading her to a conclusion so we read supposing him to be the gardener that's how veiled her eyes were she assumed she's speaking to the gardener because joseph's tomb is in a beautiful garden and a gardener would be normally taking care of such a surrounding so her only conclusion is is that she's speaking to jesus and he to her that she's talking to the maintenance man she said to him sir which is a respectful address if you have carried him away in other words if you have picked up his body and moved him to another tomb to another burial chamber if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him because i have to be where my lord is tell me where you have laid him i will take him away this is commitment little mary if you'll just tell me where he is with her own two arms she is going to pick up the dead body of jesus and carry him to the proper place maybe carry him back now to this same burial chamber so that she can apply the proper procedure to preserve his body from decaying and and her attitude is very simply this just tell me and i'm committed for whatever it takes i mean mary's life is like a blank check that she has signed and given to her lord for jesus to fill in whatever is required of her just tell me where he is i myself will move him to where he needs to be and she still has a firm faith and a firm attachment to the lord jesus christ even in the midst of the confusion of these last hours in these last days now verse 16 is where it becomes very good jesus said to her mary that voice jesus said to her mary and she turned and said to him rabboni she knew exactly who this was as soon as jesus addressed her by name it's like the veil evaporated the veil was lifted and she saw him for exactly who he is her savior her lord king of kings lord of lords it speaks to how powerful is the voice of the lord jesus christ this same voice that on the sea of galilee that night said to the angry storm be still peace and the whole sea of galilee was as still as a cup of water that powerful voice that had said earlier in john 11 lazarus come forth and lazarus was summoned from heaven back into that dead body and that dead body was raised from the dead and he came walking out what a powerful voice it's the very same voice that said in genesis 1 verse 3 let there be light and there was light this very same sovereign powerful voice mary he didn't just speak to her he spoke into her he spoke into her down into the depths of her soul down into the very epicenter of of her being and he called her by name he didn't say whosoever he called her by name you see this is the mark of one who's genuinely converted to christ you have been called by name individually personally in fact that's what the word church means it just means ecclesia the called out ones we are those who have been called by name out of the world into a saving relationship with jesus christ first corinthians 1 verse 9 says that we have been called into fellowship with christ that first peter 2 verses 8 and 9 tell us that we have been called out of darkness and into light and if you if you are a believer in jesus christ i i just must tell you that it is because the lord called you by name you say i i didn't hear an audible voice no you didn't it was much louder than an audible voice he spoke with such a powerful call that he summoned you out of your life of sin your life of indifference to him hold and he called you into fellowship with him who created the world mary verse 16 says she turned let's just stop right there that means she had become so downcast as she is speaking to jesus whom she perceives to be the gardener that she's just hung her head and she's turned to a side in just disillusionment and and in disappointment and discouragement and so when he says mary she has to turn and look to him she turned and said to him in hebrew rabboni which is an intensified form of rabbi rabbi means teacher and john has put in at the end of this verse rabona means teacher and and what this means is once again she is excuse me he is her lord to call him teacher means everything that i know about god about me about grace about salvation about sin about forgiveness about redemption about holiness about purity and godliness everything i know about heaven and hell everything that i know you're my teacher and you have taught me the truth and my life has come under the authority of your teaching the word disciple mathitase means student it means a student it means a pupil a learner well every student must have a teacher and every disciple must have a rabbi a ramonai a lord a master and that is jesus now before we move on to the last verses let me ask you this question what are we to make of this that she cannot recognize that this is jesus until he says mary how could she be in such a a fog how how could he be so ambiguous to her and obscured to her i think we all ponder that question and we do know this that after the resurrection of jesus for reasons really we are not told there were people who encountered jesus who did not know it was jesus for example in luke 24 we read of two disciples on the road to emmaus and jesus suddenly joins them and walks with them and jesus begins to explain to them himself in all the scripture and we read in luke 24 16 their eyes were prevented from recognizing him so it's as if god was closing their eyes spiritually speaking so that they could not recognize jesus and then we read in verse 31 of that same chapter their eyes were opened and they recognized him and god would be the one that would open those eyes to recognize jesus now this is somewhat mysterious but here's the application for us today and it's a very important point you and i can only know jesus to the extent that he chooses to make himself known to us the superior will be known only by the inferior to the extent that the greater chooses to make himself known to the lesser i i've known many great men and i can only know them to the extent that they would allow themselves to be known by me and many are very guarded about letting themselves be known by others we'll carry this over into the spiritual realm if you know jesus christ today as your lord and savior it is a marvelous work of his grace that he has chosen to make himself known to you because before you were converted jesus was obscured to you you were living in a fog jesus meant no more to you than christmas or easter or a stained glass window and it is not until that moment that jesus chooses to remove the scales from your eyes and allow you to see him for who he is in the epiphany of that moment you suddenly see what you could not previously see in fact you had eyes to see but you could not see you had ears to hear but you could not hear but in that moment of the new birth in that moment of sovereign regeneration jesus invaded your life and jesus removed the scales and the clouds and called you by name and in that moment you realized and recognized who he is and your great need for him and it wasn't because you were smarter than someone else in your family or are smarter than than some other friend you would have it's because jesus took the initiative and jesus chose to make himself known to you at the opponent at the appointed time that he had chosen for you to know him this is called sovereign grace this is called divine intervention this is called a divine appointment and i wonder if you've had this kind of a divine appointment in your life where you no longer see just the profile of jesus but you actually see the person of jesus well i have one last heading as we wrap this up i say that to keep you with me i want you to note in verse 17 and 18 mary's desperation because mary is not passive and mary is not stoic and married now that she sees that this is jesus that this this does something to her can you imagine putting yourself in her position so i want you to see how overcome mary is and i think you and i need to be overcome that we've come to know jesus so verse 17 jesus said to her stop clinging to me why would he say that obviously she's clinging to him simple observation and we know from matthew's account in matthew 28 9 that she took hold of his feet so what this means mary is so overwhelmed and overcome with emotion and excitement and exuberation that that she literally just collapses and she just falls to her knees and falls to the ground how could she remain standing and she just puts her arms around the ankles of jesus and is just clinging to him as if she will not let him go she doesn't want any more separation and so jesus has to say stop clinging to me because he can't just drag her around i mean he he's got to go to the upper room he's got to just suddenly appear in the upper room later this evening he he's got to walk through the walls and just appear and we're going to look at this next sunday on easter sunday you're going to want to be here you're going to be like mary and be here and everything that jesus will have to say to the disciples in the upper room in essence we're back in the ball game it's full speed ahead man so stop clinging to me i i i have more people to see and he explains why you have to stop clinging to me for i have not yet ascended to the father you see in 40 days acts 1 3 tells us that jesus will ascend from the mount of olives and be taken up into heaven and two angels will come for jesus and appear in the sky and the disciples will just be staring up into the this just levitates he just ascends back to the right hand of god the father and the two angels have to say to the disciples you men of galilee why do you stand gazing into the heavens this same jesus who was taken from you shall return in like manner he was taken visibly and bodily he's coming back visibly and bodily right and so stop clinging to me i've got to go to the other disciples i i'm going to have to appear to them several times i'm going to have to appear to as many as 500 people at one time first corinthians 15 tells us i've got to go to the sea of galilee i've got to recommission peter in front of the other disciples and say to to peter do you love me then feed my sheep do you love me tend my sheep so there's still much ministry after the resurrection and before his ascension to go return back to heaven you've got to let go of me stop clinging to me but what we admire about this precious woman is her love and her loyalty to jesus christ would to god i had a deeper commitment to christ like this that i would lay hold of him and he would have to say to me stop clinging to me i've got other people i need to attend to for i've not yet ascended to the father but go to my brethren which is a reference to the disciples and say to them i ascend to my father and your father and my god and your god i need to explain that i'm returning to the father and for you to to wait for the promise of the holy spirit that will be poured out on the day of pentecost and finally verse 18 mary magdalene came this is written from john's perspective so john is with the other disciples so mary she didn't go she came she came to where john was announcing to the disciples can you imagine how excited mary must have been to burst into that room now peter and john have begun to to to know but notice this she announced to the disciples i have seen the lord she is willing to be considered maybe someone what are you talking about woman no i have seen the lord and that's really what a witness does a witness for christ simply tells someone else what you've seen and heard and if you know enough to be saved you know enough to be a witness for christ you just tell what you've seen and heard i have seen the lord and that he had said these things to her so as we wrap up this scene there's there's been much here for us to learn today and i want you to think about your commitment level to the lord i want you to think about where you are in your relationship to the lord because as we live in this world and we're being pulled in so many different directions and there are many lures and snares and competing attractions for our attention i just want to ask you how committed to the lord are you is jesus the lord of your life if we followed you around tomorrow would we clearly see that jesus is the lord of your life have you come to the place of the unconditional surrender of your life to jesus have you signed your life over like a blank check and and given it to jesus and jesus you fill in what your will is for my life for the rest of my life i'm willing to go anywhere i'm willing to do anything i'm willing to pay any price i'm willing to serve with anyone lord it's no longer my way it is your way for my life i want to ask you have you humbled yourself and submitted yourself under the lordship of christ have you yielded your life to him have you denied yourself and taken up a cross and followed christ as you find yourself here today it may well be that this message has been god seeking you out and to make known to you that jesus has really never been my lord and if that is the case that's good news and bad news the good news is a right diagnosis is half the cure you you need to know where you stand with the lord and if you've come to the place where you realize no i've been running my own life i've been running my own show i don't really check in with jesus on how i'm supposed to live and what i'm supposed to do well then i would call upon you this moment in the privacy of your own heart i'm not going to ask you to stand up i'm not going to ask you to walk forward if you walk forward i'd send you back to your seat okay so don't do that i'm talking about you and jesus in your heart no one else knowing knowing no one else able to peer into your heart is jesus the lord over your life and if he has never really been the lord i call you this moment to bow the knee i call you this moment to deny yourself i call you this moment to surrender unconditionally your life to jesus i call you to lay down your life as it were on the altar like a sacrifice and place your life before the lord jesus christ and say lord jesus i confess my sin i need a savior and i need a lord take control of my life would be the greatest decision you could ever make i want to say that again it'd be the greatest decision you would ever make in your life and you could do that right now this moment just between you and the lord jesus he has been raised from the dead he is alive forevermore he is living he is here by his spirit he is walking up and down the aisles of of this church by his spirit and he just may be tapping you on the shoulder right now and saying you need to do what you just heard you need to commit your life to jesus christ may god give you the grace may god open your eyes to see jesus for who he truly is and may you turn to him and believe amen let us pray father thank you for the work of your spirit in our hearts and lives that you would make your son known to us that we're no longer living in a fog we're no longer living with a veil over our eyes and unable to see jesus for who he truly is that you have caused the light to shine into the darkness of our minds and hearts you have said let there be light into our darkened hearts and you have given us now the understanding of who christ is and our great need for him would you work in every individual life and heart here today we are in great need of your mercy we are in great need of your grace make us more like mary sold out and surrendered in jesus name amen

Channel: Trinity Bible

Views: 2,006

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Id: 6KSlUhzflBg

Length: 59min 50sec (3590 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 28 2021