Jesus called Lord after the Resurrection

Let's turn please to John's Gospel and chapter 20 please, John's Gospel chapter 20. What's on my mind is to try to just focus our attention a little bit upon the effects of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're just living a few days, this side of the 1988th anniversary, depending on when you want to date his birth, or his death, and his resurrection.

But whether we're separated from it just a few days as of this past week, this past weekend, or whether we're separated from it by centuries, or shall we say even stretching into eternity, the value and the tremendous victory that was accomplished by his resurrection will never lose its significance for us and its tremendous importance. And so I just want to talk a little bit about it. What has kind of come out of the scriptures to my mind is precisely how often he's referred to as Lord post-resurrection.

He was Lord prior to his resurrection, of course, as we know. But his resurrection in a certain sense has given a presentation, a demonstration, a manifestation. He has been marked out by power as the Son of God, by the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.

And so I want you to notice that with me together. We're just going to read some verses. John chapter 20, first of all, three times.

The word Lord is going to be in the mouth of Mary in this particular passage just after his resurrection, the morn of his resurrection. We won't read the whole story except just a little part of it because I have a few readings. And hopefully I won't put you to sleep by too many readings.

But anyways, here we are. Notice verse number 11. She's standing, it says, Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping.

And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher and see of two angels in white sitting. The one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto him, because they have taken away my Lord.

We've just been singing that expression heavenly. My Lord, what a precious expression it is. They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

And so we have the rest of that interesting story. Let's drop down a little further to verse 26. The famous story of Thomas and after eight days again his disciples were with him and Thomas with them.

Then came Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hands. And reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing.

And Thomas answered and said unto him, and here's the same expression again, my Lord and my God. So that's an expression that is poignant and full of great meaning. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.

Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Let's turn over to chapter 2 of Acts. Acts chapter 2 and notice what it says here.

Acts chapter 2 and verse number 32. Acts chapter 2 and verse 32. It says this Jesus has God raised up whereof we all are witnesses.

Therefore being by the right hand of God. Acts 2 verse 33. We're at now and having received, exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost.

He hath shed forth this which he now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto. My Lord.

Somebody else saying the same thing. Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom he hath crucified, both Lord and Christ.

So notice the reference to his Lordship there as the resurrected, the exalted Lord Jesus Christ. Can you turn to chapter 6 of Romans. Romans chapter 6 and we were hearing about baptism this morning.

And notice it says here. I want you to notice in verse number 4. Romans 6 and verse number 4 says, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.

Even so we also should walk in newness of life. For with we have been planted together in the likeness of his death. We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed. That henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed or righteously justified from sin.

Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.

But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Notice that? Now let's turn to another passage in Philippians this time. Philippians chapter 2. And notice verse number 9. Wherefore it says God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore my beloved as ye have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Etc.

I think our final reference that will suffice us. And in no means is this a complete survey of this tremendous truth. But just passages where he is outstanding as Lord in terms of his resurrection.

1 Corinthians chapter 15. You can hardly talk in the resurrection without talking about 1 Corinthians 15. So 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Notice the verse that points him out and identifies him as Lord. In this context verse number 47. The first man is of the earth, earthy.

The second man is the Lord from heaven. And now let's go a little further down the passage. It's tempting to read it all.

But verse number 55 says. O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be a steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So thank God for the one who is Lord.

And demonstrated in this particular aspect by his powerful victory at that resurrection morn. Death could not hold its prey. He tore the bars away as we sing Jesus my Savior.

Thank God for this one who has triumphed. And in that triumph we also have benefits. There are blessings that accrue to us.

And instead of it simply being some dry or some prominent doctrinal thing for our consideration or our investigation in a careful way. I hope that in some way today it will become alive and relevant to each one of our hearts. I'm sure that the distance we have by time and geography from the actual event in terms of when it occurred on that calendar, that unforgettable date.

If we're correct in understanding us as the experts, some of them would tell us. On A.D. 33, on April 5th, that resurrection morn when the Lord Jesus vacated the tomb. And undeniably, indisputably demonstrated his tremendous power over the grave.

The ratification of his work and triumph at the cross was underscored by his exiting the tomb on that first day of the week. What a tremendous Savior we have today. A living Savior and one who is truly Lord.

This is something that caused a transformation in the disciples. So if you were to walk through the gospel, the end chapters of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. You would note that in Matthew 28 they said, the angel said to the woman, I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified.

He is not here, but he is risen as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. And in that chapter, you'll note that at the end, he comes to his disciples. And he says, all power or all authority is given unto me in heaven and earth.

He is Lord when it comes to the commission that he gives to the disciples. What a transformation of those disheartened, discouraged, those defeated disciples. And from the tremendous impact of his resurrection life and power, he gives to them this assignment, this commission that has not reached its expiry date even to the time in which we are living.

And the same power that encouraged and revived the hopes of those men and let them loose upon a world that was lost and perishing has lost none of its vitality and its relevancy for each one of us here today. He is Lord of the commission. And in that commission, we learn in Mark's gospel that he was Lord in the confirmation of it.

And so in Mark's gospel, it says, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere. The Lord working with them and confirming the word was signs following.

Amen. Luke chapter 24, we have not only that he is Lord in terms of the commission, and now in this confirmation as they carry out the commission, but here is a man and he has been sidetracked and he has been detoured and he is coming to a pause and a problem in his life. And we read the wonderful words in Luke's gospel.

When they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together and them that were with them saying, the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared unto Simon. What a wonderful moment it was as he connects with this man who has had a stumble, who has had a fall and how effective and successful was the shepherd. We've been hearing about the shepherd as he intervened in the plight of a believer that had been stumbled by sin.

So this is a wonderful, this is a wonderful ministry that we see post-resurrection as the Lord Jesus would interchange, interact and interconnect with these believers in their different circumstances. But what we have read about in John's gospel chapter 19 is now we have Mary. Mary who is going to notice what she does as how important to her were things concerning the Lord of great import, of great significance, of great meaning to her and to others of the women and others of the disciples that same morning.

And so when she comes, notice how she comes the first day of the week while it was yet dark. The first thing on her mind as she woke up. If indeed she did wake up, I don't know how sleepless might her night have been in those traumatic circumstances in which she was found.

But it's a woman that is in her distress. And the transformation of the disciples in their various circumstances is now going to come true in her distress. And I want you to notice that what she does is her devotion in, if you'll allow the expression, in the commotion of her emotions stands unchanged, her devotion.

Early in the morning while it was yet dark. The first thing on her mind when she rises in the morning. She comes to the grave.

She finds a circumstance that is completely bewildering to her. And it is completely disheartening to her. She assesses and assumes that the grave robbers have come and they have taken away and they've done such a dishonor to the one that she would seek to esteem and look so highly upon.

At an insult to injury, enough that he would die, enough that he would be crucified. And now buried and tenderly and respectfully honored in this way. And she comes early in the morning and to her dismay, she sees something that she never expected in any moment of her wildest imaginations.

An empty tomb. What do you do in the middle of your distress when you are really disheartened? When you are confronted with circumstances that you cannot explain. That you cannot understand.

That you apparently cannot change. It's nice to note the wisdom of this woman. It says she ran.

Then she runneth. And she cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And she says to them, they've taken away the Lord.

The Lord. Out of the sepulcher. Even though he's died.

And even though he was buried. And now even though there has been this tremendous maltreatment. This almost sacrilege.

That something so holy. And so charged with significance and importance and priority to her heart. It's just a tremendous scandal.

But he is still the Lord. In the middle of it all. So in her distress, she reaches out to other men.

That she can trust. That would have a similar interest in the person of the Lord Jesus. And she will come to them.

And she will open up to them. You know sometimes in our grief we can get angry. Sometimes we can get bitter.

Sometimes we can get impatient. Sometimes we can get irritable. And sometimes we don't want anyone around us.

And we adopt the turtle mentality and we go back and retreat into our shell. And we don't want to see any believer. And we don't want to come out to the meeting.

And we don't want to have any phone call. And we don't want anybody to pry. But this woman adopted an entirely different attitude.

What wise. What a wise decision on her part. So thank God that while you might not be able to confide in every believer.

Oh how wonderful that would be if you could. And no doubt it ought to be the way it is. That's the way it should be.

But she selects a couple of people that she can trust. And she turns to them in the hour of her trial. And not only that but notice that those men go to investigate the sepulcher.

And now the story comes back to her. And she's standing there. She's taken and she's made a pause.

She's halted and she's standing there at the open tomb and she's weeping. And as she weeps she stoops down and she looks into the sepulcher. And the two angels there meet her gaze.

And she listens to the words, Woman, why weepest thou? And she says to them, Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him. I think Elizabeth tells us that same expression, My Lord. She does it in the infancy actually prior to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ when Mary comes.

She says, What is this that the mother of my Lord should come unto me? She was astonished. She was amazed. She was filled with wonder and awe.

And speaking the language of faith, she understands that there is an unborn infant that is being carried by Mary who is actually my Lord. David in centuries before, a thousand years before, as we notice in Acts chapter 2, is referring to my Lord. The Lord Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.

David looks upon him as my Lord in prophecy. How interesting that this man should be upon the mountaintop of prophecy and leapfrog in his gaze ahead to the arrival of his millennial reign and look upon a Lord in resurrection victory whose power and whose purvey would be global and universal. And he's privy to that very conversation between the persons of the Godhead.

And now we have a woman and she's sitting in front of an empty tomb. And she says, They've taken away my Lord. Her devotion was not deterred, even in the midst of tremendous duress and distress.

That's a tough one. Whatever you do, however difficult the circumstances might be, that might come into your life. I think I learned a lesson here.

Never stop to enjoy your claim upon him. My, he's mine. And never, never let go of your compliance, your cooperation with him.

My Lord. And so to surrender him and submit to him is the challenge of the moment and the secret result of already having, in prior occasions, cultivated a devotion and a communion and a closeness with the one that she now can say in this hour, My Lord. Isn't that exemplary for us all? How encouraging it is.

She wasn't no superhero. She wasn't no super woman. She wasn't no super Christian.

But here she is in likely what was the most difficult experience of her entire Christian life until that moment. And she is able to say, My Lord. My Lord.

My Lord. So there's the transformation of her and her distress because she sees someone and she thinks he's the gardener and she says, Sir, if you have taken him away, she doesn't know it's Christ. Tell me where you have laid him.

And all kinds of people have noticed this. The exaggeration of her devotion. Not only the evidences of it, not only the expression of it, but now the exaggeration of it.

You know what she says? You tell me where you put him and I'll take him away. I'll do it. You'll do it, Mary? How in the world? A complete, full grown, adult, lifeless corpse? And you think you're going to? You know what, I guess we pick up from this.

That there's almost no limit to what a devoted believer is willing to actually do. To somehow, to somehow counter all of the disrespect and all of the dishonor that has been heaped upon him. It's vital to her heart.

It's important to her heart. The honor and the glory of the one she calls my Lord. And you know what happens? She has just briefly turned back to the tomb after talking to the one that she thought was the gardener.

And all of a sudden she hears the word Mary. So what does she do? Verse 16 says she turned herself. So that means she turned again.

She turns back to him. And you know what she now says? She says Rabboni. Which is a word that means not only master as it's stated here.

But it actually means my teacher. My Lord, she's a soul that is submitted to him. My teacher.

She's a student to learn from him at his feet. And I suspect she never ever forgot the lessons that she learned that day. At the edge of a dark cold empty tomb.

It was the transformation of her in her distress. But with Thomas it was the transformation of him in his doubt. He's saying unless I see the print of the nails in his hands.

And the spear wound in his side and put my finger. I will not believe. It's not just unbelieve.

I don't believe. It's not saying I can't believe this. It's actually saying I won't.

It's disbelief. He's a picture of course of Israel. That unless they see they won't believe.

And someday they're going to see. And thank God there will be a remnant that will be saved. And there will be people who will believe.

But here is Thomas. And it's eight days later. You know I think it's interesting.

That in this particular situation we've got his response. It's priceless. It's not a lot of words.

The Lord Jesus says to him. Hi Thomas. Reach hither thy finger.

And behold my hands. Reach hither thy hand thrust it into my side. Be not faithless but believing.

My Lord. And my God. Now don't confuse that.

For the world's habit of taking his name in vain. So I don't know for sure just what all we can make out of his statement. I think we could say at the least it's a revelation.

He is now responding to having seen the risen Lord. A face-to-face encounter. One-on-one with Christ.

That's vital for every Christian. You see he got second-hand information from the mouth of the other disciples. But he wasn't really convinced.

It really didn't do him any good. And another thing that's by the by here. It's interesting how the group acted with Thomas.

It's not as if these are people with decades of experience in how to behave. When you have a believer who is a little bit skeptical. A believer who is out of sync with what's going on.

A believer that needs to learn. A believer that's a bit out of step. And a believer that's actually off track.

Just a fledgling group of believers. Of disciples. They just let him be.

They told him that they had seen the Lord. That the Lord was risen. But they didn't continue to hound him.

They didn't continue to badger him or try to bully him. You know what? I suppose they saw that there's nothing more we can do or say to convince this man. And that's not a bad point to get to sometimes.

Where we realize our own limitations. And that sometimes there's problems that we can't fix. Without any attempt to fix them.

Make them worse. And sometimes we just have to step back. And forgive the cliche to let go and let God.

And that's what they did. The Lord in his own time. In his own way.

Knows how to bring every single believer up to speed. So they just left it there. It's an expression of submission.

He says, my Lord. It's an expression of devotion. It's a double use of the word my.

My Lord and my God. It is an expression of submission. Because he says, Lord.

It's an expression, if you'll allow it, of adoration. Or praise or worship. He says, my God.

Here he is in the presence. Of someone who is possessed. Of full orbed deity.

And he confesses that. And his confession is a conclusion based upon fact. And it becomes his own personal conviction.

This isn't trivial. This isn't just superficial. This isn't off the cuff.

This isn't some mere expression of surprise. This is a man who's had his experience. And his understanding deepened and enlarged.

And he now says with deep genuine real profound conviction. My Lord and my God. He's owning Christ as his.

In the midst of the company. It's an admission that he was wrong. That's an evidence of his humility.

He doesn't get all flustered and embarrassed and say, you know what? This is like all these people looking on. I don't like this anymore. I'm leaving here right now.

If he had pride, he set it all aside. I'm wrong. Gentlemen, I was so wrong.

You all were right. And you know what? He is my Lord. And he is my God.

What a victory. What a successful moment. And what a case of restoration.

I don't know if these were the only words he said in this moment. I don't know if they were certainly his first words that he says in this occasion. I don't know if they were his only words.

As far as I can tell, they were his last words that he says. What a great way to leave the page of Scripture with that confession so clearly posited. So how are you getting along in your experience? How am I getting along in my spiritual experience? Not so long ago, I had a man mention to me that he was trying to help another believer.

And he asked the other believer, have you been reading your Bible lately? He says, he made a number of different attempts and stuttering and trying to come up with excuses and so on. But he finally said that no, I'm not. But he says, you know what? I'm listening to all kinds of messages online and stuff like that.

It's good. Yeah. Well, thank God he's doing that at least.

But we should understand there's really no substitute for that personal one-on-one experience with the Lord. That's what clinched it for Thomas. He finally, he could have given a nod of the head, a tip of the hat to those that were trying to share with him truth that would have benefited him.

Maybe he was a little bit too individualistic. Maybe he was a little bit too independent. I don't know.

Doesn't he have a great spirit of fellowship, of working in harmony with his other brother and sister? But the bottom line is this. Is that when he finally gets this one-on-one experience and occasion with the Lord, that makes all the difference. So David has called him Lord in prophecy.

Elizabeth calls him my Lord in his infancy, if you'll allow that. Mary is calling him my Lord in her anxiety. Thomas calls him my Lord after his incredulity.

And Paul, as you will recall, and maybe there's others, he says, my Lord in his excellency. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.

And do count them but dumb, that I may win Christ. A revolutionary reality of a resurrected Lord. And I think of Acts chapter 2, because here it's not just the transformation of disciples.

It's not just the transformation of distress. It's not just the transformation of man in his doubt. But now it's a transformation of people's destiny for eternity.

And Peter is preaching. And Peter is presenting the case for Christ. And after walking through the scriptures and bringing it skillfully to the attention of the audience.

He comes to his conclusion and he says, let all the house of Israel know assuredly. That God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And as a result, we all know what happened.

Approximately 3,000 souls are reached and saved. He has skillfully managed and expressed the message. He has reached their consciences.

He understood that if these people are going to appreciate the forgiveness of sins. The conscience must be disturbed. It must be awakened.

These people must be alarmed about their condition. And because of that tremendous work that took place, the message that he gave. Resulted under the power of the Spirit of God and the grace of God and the salvation.

A transformation of destiny. I think that you could say Philippians 2 is a transformation of difficulty in the assembly. So what do we have? Well, the difficulties were numerous in the assembly at Philippi.

Chapter 1 is a bizarre situation in which you have got people that are engaging in the ministry of the gospel. To add affliction to Paul in his imprisonment. Now you can give your head a shake and I give my head a shake.

But I can't quite figure that out. And in chapter 2, it would seem to be that there is a need for humility. And in chapter 3, we have the animosity of the Judaizing false teachers.

And in chapter 4, we have some things going on with two sisters in that assembly. So it has multiple problems. But multiple problems in whatever assembly there might be on the face of the earth.

Is more than met by the corresponding resource of our resurrected Lord. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. And given him a name which is above every name.

That at the name given to Jesus, every knee should bow. Of things, it's going to be universal. It's going to be individual.

Every knee should bow. And every tongue should confess. It's going to be confessional.

That Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So he says, my beloved brothers. My beloved, as you have always obeyed.

Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation. The salvation of this assembly.

The preservation of this assembly. Is in the balances. Is at stake.

And because of a resurrected, exalted Lord. You have all the tools that are necessary. To work out your own salvation.

With fear and trembling. Any assemblies here represented today beleaguered by problems? None? Cool. Wonderful.

But it can happen. Overwhelmingly so sometimes. The salvation of an assembly.

The transformation of a difficulty facing an assembly. How wonderful to hear the other night in a prayer meeting. Prayer being offered for the leadership.

For the overseers of the assembly. And in these times where oversight has been trying to chart. How an assembly manages this whole pandemic and situation.

And you hear these stories. Of craziness. Of division.

Of conflict. It's almost like sometimes. We're just looking for any excuse to scrap.

And here's an assembly and Paul says to them. He's a risen Lord. He not only can transform the difficulties in the assembly.

But the last passage and with this I close. That resurrected Lord Jesus Christ who vacated the tomb. Is the one that transforms death.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And so as a result. Mortality will be able to dawn immortality.

Corruptibility, corruption. Will be able to dawn incorruption. It will be in a moment.

In a twinkling of an eye. We have been hearing about the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the hymns we have sung today.

And in that day we'll be able to sing songs. But we'll also be able to sing a taunt. And we'll say.

To a death that has been sorted up in victory. O grave where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting? It's gone now. This triumphant king who vacated the tomb.

Has torn out the fangs of the serpent of death. He has answered the demands of the law. And the strength of sin is the law.

And as a result he has freed us forever. And we stand with him on resurrection ground. This is the one who can transform the dominion of sin.

In Romans chapter 6. In relation to baptism. Dear child of God. That sin that maybe won the battle this past week.

And maybe several weeks before that. You are not fated. You are not fated.

To an interminable experience. Of the victory of sin in your life. Sin shall not have dominion over you.

There's a resurrected savior. But at the end of it all. We're going to be triumphant and in his presence.

One by one. Even though it will be filled with a great throng. We'll have that one-on-one where we'll see him.

I don't know what we'll say. Maybe we won't say anything. Maybe we'll be struck dumb with awe.

Maybe we'll say with some of these others. My Lord. And my God.

But in the meantime. What's he tell you in 1 Corinthians 15. Therefore my beloved brethren.

Be steadfast. Stay the course. Don't give up.

Don't give in. Always abounding more and more in the work of the Lord. Knowing that your labor is not in vain.

That which is in conformity under his control. Under his management. Under his command.

Knowing that your labor is not in vain. In the Lord. May God help us to appreciate the Lord.

On resurrection ground. May God bless us for it.