The First Easter Morning

I enjoyed that new song. You have a good memory. You know that Keith and Russ played that song for us at our fall fellowship, our hayride back in November. That's one that we have been using in our home just the last couple of days. It's a very powerful message, as I always say. The music that is played blesses you, we challenge you to use it in your own prayer time, your own personal worship time. I enjoyed that. I look forward to hearing that and worshipping with that song more in the future. Go ahead and take your Bible and turn back with me to the Gospel of John, John chapter 20. As I said earlier, we will be dividing verses 1 through 10.

Most of you know this morning that we have just come off of a break from our study in the Gospel of John. We took four weeks to deal with the subject of money. Specifically, we had one title that we carried throughout those messages. It was called, or they were called, "The Christian's Approach to Money." I look forward to seeing how that teaching impacts all of our lives. I look forward to seeing how this teaching impacts us all for kingdom work, for the work of the church, and then more specifically for the work of Nola Baptist Church. This morning we are back in our study in the Gospel of John.

We were last in John back on January 5 when we finished up chapter 19. We learned how God used Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and they lovingly cared for the body of Jesus after the crucifixion. These events were the culmination of all of those events surrounding the crucifixion. As we get ready to jump into chapter 20, we need to understand that we are starting the resurrection narrative. In our language, we might simply call it the resurrection story. This resurrection story is the climax of the Gospel story. Christ Jesus did not simply come to live as a man, the God-man. He did not simply come to die on the cross.

He did not simply come to die as the substitutionary death. He came to die to be resurrected on the third day and to ascend back to the Father. In the resurrection, we have the defeat of sin, the defeat of death, and the defeat of the grave. In the resurrection, we have victory. John MacArthur calls this, this resurrection, and I'm quoting, "The ultimate demonstration of Christ's power over death and hence proof of his deity." That is why the resurrection is seen as the climax of the Gospel story. Now, at different times through our study of John, I have called you to read the other Gospel accounts. We know what they are.

We have Matthew, Mark, and Luke, along with John. Those other Gospel accounts are called the synoptic Gospels. I have called you at different times to read all of the stories together. Now, I want to give you a helpful warning here. Each of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection are very different. These men of God who wrote these events, they wrote them in their own way. Scholars agree that it is difficult to weave their accounts together into a free-flowing story. Now, a question. How do we handle things such as this? When we come to portions of Scripture that are difficult to weave together, how do we handle it?

If we read these accounts or the Gospels or the Bible in itself, if we read the Word of God and we see it as a textbook full of facts or even a precise history book or even a set of instructions, we will be very confused. We will be very frustrated. We might even be angry out of that frustration. We must see that these writers spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit of God. The Bible commentator Leon Morris calls these differences a demonstration that here we have the spontaneous evidence of the witnesses, not the stereotype repetition of an official story. So a question. What do we do?

We read all these Gospel accounts and we understand that God led these men the right as they did. We weave the different accounts together as best as we can and we accept that God gave just what He wanted to give us. This is the story of the resurrection of Jesus, God's only Son. Now one more observation that I want to make before we dive into these verses, begin this work of dividing the verses. All week when I have read these verses, I have kept coming back to this fact. We have two narratives that are running side by side here in these verses. First we have the resurrection story. I've already said it, this great victory.

And then second, we have the story of those individuals within the story. These are God's people and we're going to learn about God's people as well. I think that it is very important for us to see and to study both stories within this story. We can learn a lot from studying the resurrection, but we can also learn a lot by simply studying those who are involved in these events. Now let's go back together to these verses, verses 1-10. So read them together.

Starting in verse 1, "Now on the first day or first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and saw the stone it was already taken away or rolled away from the tomb. And so she ran and she came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And she said to them, 'They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him.' Peter therefore went forth and the other disciple and they were running together. And the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first.

And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in." Verse 6, "Simon Peter therefore also, he came following him and he entered the tomb and he beheld the linen wrappings lying there and the facecloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself." So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb entered then also and he saw and he believed. "For as yet they did not understand the Scriptures, that he must rise again from the dead." So the disciples went away again to their homes. Now I will give you the title of the message. It is rather simple.

It's rather obvious. It comes right out of these verses. We have the first Easter morning. We have the first Easter morning. Now some of your Bibles might have a subheading here. It could say something like the resurrection or the empty tomb. All of those are accurate. But I have chosen to title this message the first Easter morning because that's what we have here. Now we will divide these verses observing five major truths. I put them before you so that you can take notes easily. We see number one, the stone is rolled away out of verse one. And number two, we have Mary. She rushes to Peter and John. That comes out of verse two.

And then we have the race to the tomb verses three to six. And then John's belief. Some might say John and Peter's belief out of verses eight and nine and then the disciples they're waiting. And that is in verse ten. So let's start off with our first major truth there out of verse one. Verse the stone it is rolled away. Go back to the verse. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, she came early to the tomb while it was still dark and she saw the stone. It was already taken away or rolled away from the tomb. Now here in this one verse, we really have a whole lot of truth to examine.

If we're not careful, we can miss some of what is before us. But we must see the main message of the verse and that is that the stone had been rolled away. Now there are two observations that I want us to notice here before we looked at the fact that the stone was rolled away. So three observations out of verse one. First notice the first day. The verse reads the first day or the first day of the week. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, she came. Now this first day of the week was Sunday and this is the beginning of a lot of chains for God's people. Whereas the Jews, they had worshiped for generations on Saturday.

That was the Jewish Sabbath. The New Testament records that Sunday it would become the Christian day of worship. A couple of references that might help you here. Acts chapter 20 verse 7. This is a story when Paul is teaching. As a matter of fact, he's pretty long winded here. He teaches well into the night. Notice the verse. "On the first day of the week, when we gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with him intending to depart from the next day. And he prolonged his speech until midnight." So what do we see? A gathering of God's people there on the first day, their day of worship. And then 1 Corinthians 16 verse 2.

"On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside something and store it up, as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come." What's Paul doing here? He is giving them instructions on giving. He's saying when you meet on the first day of the week, set aside an offering. And if we follow the progression and the development of Christian worship all in the New Testament, by the time we get to the book of Revelation, we see that Sunday is called the Lord's Day. We see that in Revelation chapter 1 verse 10. So here in verse 1, just in this small portion, we have an allusion to the New Testament day of worship.

The first day. Some might call it Resurrection Day. And ultimately, it became the Lord's Day. So what do we see at the verse? Now on the first day, the first day of the week. And then second, notice that Mary came. That's obvious here. Mary Magdalene, she came early to the tomb. The text reads that Mary came very early. It was so early that it was still dark, or we could use the term before the dawn of the day. So, a question, what is taking place here? If we go back to the other gospels, they tell us that there were other women with Mary. They came with spices, and they brought those spices to anoint the body of Jesus.

Now this poses another question. Why would this be done since Nicodemus had brought such a large amount of spices back in chapter 18? Only in chapter 18, we learned that Nicodemus brought a very large amount of spices to anoint the body of Jesus. Now truthfully, we cannot know definitively. It could be that the women were unaware of what Nicodemus had done. Their son, they speculate that Nicodemus did not use all of the spices as he was working to prepare the body earlier. This and Joseph, they were in a hurry to care for the body because they were wanting to be prepared for the Jewish Sabbath. But we simply cannot know.

But we do see here, Mary and the other women, they came very early to the tomb, possibly to anoint the body of Jesus. We do believe that, but certainly they were going to the tomb to mourn the death of Jesus. But then the third observation, the stone is rolled away. Go back to the verse now, "On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came. There were other women with her early to the tomb. And while it was still dark and they saw that the stone, it was already rolled or taken away." Here in John, we have a brief mention of a wonderful heavenly work. Matthew's account tells us that that was a great and mighty earthquake.

Then an angel from heaven came and he rolled away the stone. But Mary and the other women, they're unaware of this great heavenly work. They simply stumbled upon the scene to find that the stone was rolled away. So in summary, what do we see here just in this one verse? "On the first day of the week, all things changed. The stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty, Christ's power over death, and the proof of his deity was on full display." Mary and the other women, I believe, stumbled upon this shocking scene. Now an application here, I believe we need to see two facts. Two facts that we can apply to us today.

First of all, we need to be reminded that the first day of the week, it became the Lord's Day and it was the New Testament Church's pattern to worship on the Lord's Day. It was Resurrection Day, it was Christ's Day, it was the Lord's Day. Now we have studied this at length in the life of the church here at Noah. And God has taught us that Sunday is a unique day. It is the Lord's Day. And I believe we always need to be reminded of the fact that it is the Lord's Day. It's not my day. It's not your day. It's not our day. It is the Lord's Day. And we set it aside for worship, we set it aside for rest, we set it aside to do the Lord's work.

And so just that one little verse there reminds me of the importance of acknowledging and adhering to the New Testament pattern of the Lord's Day. And then second, we need to be reminded that the tomb is empty. I think I need to say that again. We need to be reminded that the tomb is empty. Christ is alive. The victory has been won. We serve a risen Savior. Now truthfully when I was studying and finishing up my notes last night, I always finish up on a Saturday night. Immediately my mind went to an old familiar hymn and I told my wife this morning I sure wished I could sing because I'd sing it. Tyler the hymn is rather simple. He lives.

When I start reading the words, I believe you'll be familiar with this hymn and I see that I believe you will see that this really captures what we see here in verse one. Notice the verses. "I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know that He is living whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy. I hear His voice of cheer and just the time I need Him, He's always near." And here's the chorus. "He lives, He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives. Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives.

He lives within my heart." See folks, we serve a risen Savior. What does the verse say? The stone was rolled away. Let's move on. Let's look at our second major truth. Our second major truth, Mary rushes to Peter and John. Go back to verse two with me. "And so she ran and she came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And he said to them, 'They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him.'" Now I said earlier that we have two narratives side by side. First we have the story of the resurrection. That's the main story. That's the great climax of the gospel story.

And then second, we have the story of those individuals within the story. These are the people who are a part of these events. And here we find these individuals who are caught up in this resurrection story. And I use that term caught up purposely because they really had no idea what was going on here. Now there are three observations I want to make out of verse two. First we have Mary Magdalene. We saw her in verse one and in verse two. We have Mary Magdalene. Now Luke 8 shows us that Mary was one of the women who traveled with Jesus during His earthly ministry. She along with many others helped in the ministry of Jesus.

This only took place after Jesus cast a whole host of demons out of her. We see that in Mark chapter 16. There were seven demons cast out of Mary. All four of the gospels mention Mary here at the empty tomb or the resurrection. So we see Mary. She is a devoted follower of Jesus. And along with other women, she came and she came to anoint the body of Jesus and to mourn His death. And now in verse two, she is rushing to Peter and rushing to John to tell them this very perplexing news. The second observation we have, Peter and John. We have Peter and John. Here we have Peter named, but John is not named.

Now from our study in the Gospel of John, we know that it was John's habit not to mention himself by name. Here we obviously see that Mary recognized Peter and John as leaders among the disciples. They had been leaders among the twelve all throughout Jesus' earthly ministry. As Mary traveled with Jesus and traveled with this man, she certainly would have seen them in their roles. So we see Mary reporting back to Peter, back to John. We see Peter and John being brought into this resurrection story. And then third notice Mary's reaction. What does she say?

"They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him." It is interesting to see here that the idea of the resurrection did not enter into Mary's thinking or conversation. She logically deducted that the body had been taken or stolen. Notice she says, "They have taken Him. They have laid Him." This seems to indicate that she has a certain people in her mind. It would be safe to assume that she is thinking of the Jewish leadership or the enemies of Jesus. So we see Mary's reaction. It would be safe to say that she is really in a big, big panic. So in summary, what do we see out of verse 2?

Mary has seen the stone. It has rolled away and she is looking at the entrance of the tomb. But she ran to the leadership to report the news. This is not news of victory, but this is news of panic. This is news of despair, even news of sorrow. We are seeing the people in this story being drawn into this resurrection event. Now an application of what might we learn here. Many of you might be surprised to see a lesson that we can learn here just out of verse 2 and Mary specifically. But we need to see that many times we are just like Mary. Instead of trusting in the Word of God, instead of trusting in Christ, we panic.

Oh yes, we fall into despair and sorrow and panic. But a series of questions here. Did not Jesus tell them He would be crucified? Sure. Many times. Did not Jesus tell them that He would rise again? Did not the Old Testament speak of the crucifixion and the resurrection over and over? Yes. And did not Jesus tell them repeatedly? Yes. Well then why the panic? Why do we see her run and run and run to others? I'll be honest with you, we are more like Mary than we know. We panic and yes, we run to others instead of trusting in Him and trusting in His Word, instead of running to the Lord Jesus and running to the Word.

Let me ask you, are you in the habit of panicking and running and acting just like Mary? I think as this verse has been unfolded for some of you, I think as it's been explained and I've brought it down to this application, some of you have seen yourself far more like Mary than you know. When all along, you need to trust in God's Word, trust in the risen Savior who lives within your heart and your life and just trust Him. Now let's move on to our third major truth. I want us to see the race to the tomb. We have this race to the tomb. It's a larger portion of Scripture, verses 3-7. Verse 3, let's start reading.

"Peter therefore he went forth in the other disciple and they were going to the tomb." Verse 4, "And the two were running together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came up to the tomb first. And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in." Verse 6, "Simon Peter also therefore came following him and he entered the tomb and he beheld the linen wrappings lying there and the facecloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in the place by itself." Now when I call this a race, that is truly what it was. What does verse 4 say?

"They were running together." Peter and John race to the tomb. One started ahead while the other passed the other along the way. I like what the Bible commentator A.W. Pink says here. He called these verses, verses 3 to 4, "Loves race to the sepulcher." Isn't that good? Loves race to the sepulcher. That's just what it was. Peter and John, they loved the Lord Jesus. Those who would be great leaders within the New Testament church there, they raced to the tomb. Now three observations I want us to make here. First, Peter and John running to the tomb. We see that in verses 3 to 4. Here we see that Peter started off first with John following.

And then we see that John passes up Peter to get to the tomb first. Now some Bible commentators say Peter started off first and this speaks of his impulsive behavior. Have we not learned that Peter's impulsive? At least one commentator that I read speculated that John passed up Peter because John was younger than Peter. No matter the age of the reasons, we see these two men running, Peter starting first. And then second, Peter and John eventually entered the tomb. Now here we see that John, the first one to the tomb, he looked into the tomb. Then we see Peter arrive and he immediately, he entered the tomb.

Peter was first to run and first into the tomb. John was second to run and he was second to enter. Verse 8 tells us. Again, some commentators say that this speaks to their different temperaments or their different personalities. Now I do not have a problem with that type of observation or speculation. And then third, they saw the grave close. They saw the grave close. Go back to the middle of verse 6 on down to verse 7. "And he beheld the linen wrappings lying there and the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in its place." Now notice what John describes. There's order here.

If the enemies of Jesus had stolen the body, they would not have taken the time to wrap and to fold the grave close. This only emphasizes the fact that Jesus had actually risen. This is order. There is purpose here in folding and placing the grave close as they were. The body of Jesus is gone, but Peter and John find the grave close neatly placed where the body was laid. Now in summary, what do we see here? I want to borrow A.W. Pink's terminology again, we have "Love's race to the sepulcher or the tomb," but we see more. We see two very different men. I agree with the commentators who point out their different temperaments.

Peter was first to run and first into the tomb. John was second to run and second into the tomb. They both found the empty grave, but they both approached this circumstance differently. Now, in that case, we must see that in that day, we have a wide variety of people in the life of the church today. Yes, we have different personalities. We have different strengths. We have different weaknesses. We have different experiences. We have different gifts. We have different spiritual gifts. We are all different. And Peter and John were completely different. As your pastor, I want to take a step further.

If we really get honest, not only are we all different, but we are even all weird and strange in our own way. Now why do I say that? I think it's extremely important for us to see that we are all different in the life of the church within the body of Christ. Peter was entirely different than John, and John completely different than Peter in their personalities and their temperament. I was talking to my wife one night on a Wednesday night in the hallway, and I was just talking about the differences that we have in the life of the church with different people.

And you see, the longer we minister here, the longer we live life side by side, we will begin to notice everyone's differences, their shortcomings, their weaknesses. We will notice. And oh, eventually it will come to a time when those things might get on our nerves. Now why do I spend this time here? It's extremely important for us to see the differences in the life of the church with God's people. And I say all of that to come to one word, one word of instruction from your pastor. Patience. Patience. We must be patient with one another. We must be patient. Peter had to be patient with John. John had to be patient with Peter.

All of the other disciples, they definitely had to be patient with Peter. And the Lord Jesus Christ was patient with his disciples. How many times did he repeat himself over and over and over, patiently moving them along? And I say all that to say this. We must see that we are much stronger together than apart. God brings us together in our differences to make us stronger. I have a good example I want to use here to help you see what I mean by this. Most of you know that Brother Keith and I are involved in a student camp that we have done for years.

Years ago as a student minister, I got really tired of terrible student ministry, student ministry that propagated bad doctrine and such. And the Lord Jesus really moved on on my heart and moved on me to start doing a student camp along with some other minister friends who were frustrated as well. Long story short, since 2003. We have been doing glory day student summer camp. Churches that come together, ministers that come together and they just want quality teaching. They want good doctrine. And we have been working hard through the years administering young people. But behind the scenes we have five men.

Myself, Brother Keith, our friend Luke Johnson, our friend Jared Walters, and another friend of ours whom you have met a time or two, Brandon Sorrell. Five men. But what God has shown us through the years is that we are all different. We have strengths over here, whereas someone else has weaknesses over there. Where one is good, the other struggles. What am I showing you? God has brought us together and we are all very different even to the point sometimes where we drive each other crazy. I am just being honest. God has taught us that we are better together than alone. What am I trying to show you?

We can learn a lot by just observing these two men. You might say, "Pastor, you are sure pulling a lot out of this race to the tomb." Yes, it is there. Peter and John were completely different and we need to see that in the life of the church there are all kinds. And we have to be patient. And we must understand that God brings us all together for His purpose and His will and we are better together than apart. It is called the body of Christ. Let's move on. I want us to see our fourth major truth. Our fourth major truth. We have John's belief. Verses 8 and 9.

So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb, that is John, he entered then also and he saw and he believed. Verse 9, "For as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead." Here we see John's arrival. He comes to the tomb. But much more. The last portion of verse 8 says that he saw and believed. Go back to the verse. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb, he entered. Peter had already entered, remember? But John entered and he saw, what did he see? The empty tomb? The grave clothes? He saw and he believed. Now we must ask a very important question here. What did John believe?

Notice the difference between verse 8 and verse 9. So he came to the tomb, he entered then also and he saw and believed. Verse 9, "For as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead." We see here that John, he saw the empty tomb, he saw the grave clothes and he believed. He believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. But this was an incomplete belief. Verse 9 says that he did not yet understand the Scriptures. This is referring to the Old Testament Scriptures which speak of the resurrection. Just take the book of Psalms. Within the book of Psalms there are many prophecies concerning the promised Christ.

These are called the Messianic Psalms. There are some 25 in total. One specific Psalm 1610. "For you," and I'm reading the verse, "will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption." That's the resurrection. In Isaiah 53 verses 10 to 12 it speaks of the servant as alive after speaking of the servant's death. And there are many others. It is clearly seen in the New Testament that the New Testament Christians saw the resurrection predicted in the Old Testament. But here in verse 9 we see that John and Peter, they did not understand that these Old Testament passages referred to these events there at the empty tomb.

Simply John and Peter, verse 9 says they, as plural, John and Peter had an incomplete belief. Verse 8, "They saw the empty tomb and believed, but yet they did not understand or believe those Scriptures." Now what must we learn here in application? Just like we are a lot like Mary, we must see that we are a lot like John and Peter. We have many times an incomplete belief. We will believe the Lord Jesus up to a point. John and Peter have an excuse? No doubt they knew those Scriptures. But yet they needed a fuller work of the Spirit within them. And look, we must see that many times we have an incomplete belief. What do we do?

When we find ourselves in this position, we stay obedient to the work of the Spirit within our life because the Lord didn't leave them there. Praise the Lord that he was patient with them as well. So John's belief was an incomplete belief and we can be much like John and Peter. Our fifth major truth, the disciples and they're waiting. Look at verse 10. So the disciples went away again to their homes. Now here we have a verse which can be overlooked. It's very simple. There is not much we can learn here, but what must we see? The disciples went home. They went home confused. They went home despondent, believing, but yet not understanding.

But Jesus was not through with them. I've already alluded to that. He does not leave them in their state. Now what can we learn from this verse? When we are stewing in our incomplete belief, when we are stuck in that position, much like Peter and John, the Lord is faithful to continue a work in us. He is faithful to continue the work that he has begun. Now there's a theological term that many of you familiar with. I've used it from time to time when it's been appropriate, but it's called the perseverance of the saints. I want to speak to you about both sides of the perseverance of the saints.

First, we must see that we have a responsibility to persevere in him. Oh, we must walk with the Lord. We must walk in obedience and be obedient to his word. Look, we have a responsibility to persevere in his word and walking with the Lord. And then we see the other side. Oh, it's the Lord that perseveres in us. Now if you get a little head, verse 11, what do you see? Mary stayed by the tomb, but yet these men went home. What's the difference? Nothing. One's in one geographical location and the other, they're at home. But they were both, are all, in the same place. This was an incomplete work.

They are waiting, and the Lord Jesus is faithful to continue this work in them. And look, if you find yourself in this place, oh, you feel like you have an incomplete belief. You keep persevering in the Lord, stay in prayer, stay in the Word, and wait on the Lord to finish what he has begun in you. He desires it more than you. And sometimes when we feel like he's a million miles away. Now in conclusion, what must we be certain to take home with us? There's a lot here in verses 1 to 10. What must we make sure we remember? I go back to those two parallel narratives. You might call them parallel stories.

We have the story of the resurrection, and then second, we have the story of those individuals within the story. First, first in conclusion, we must see that we are far more like these individuals in this story than we know. We can learn from Mary. We can learn from Peter and John, and even the others that are mentioned in the other Gospel accounts. And we are far more like them than we know. We can see ourselves in their strengths. We can see ourselves in their weaknesses. It is very comforting to know that the same God who persevered in them is the same God that will persevere in us.

If I can just say it like this, if Peter and John and Mary can make it, so can you. And then second, and most important, we must remember that the resurrection is the climax of the Gospel. Perhaps Jesus not only came to live as a man, the God-man, he was fully God and fully man. Not only did he come to die on the cross, a cruel Roman execution, and not only did he come to die as a substitutionary death in my place and yours, he came to die to be resurrected on the third day and to ascend back to the Father. He came to defeat death. He came to defeat sin, and he came to defeat the grave. In the resurrection, we have victory.

The resurrection is the greatest victory that has ever been won. And it was won first for the glory of God and second for the redemption of man. Oh, I need to repeat that, people. It was won first for the glory of God and second for the redemption of man. Now I want to conclude by going back to our psalm. Brother Keith is going to close out the service where he lives here in a moment, but I want to go back and read the words. And you tell me if this does not come right out of the heart of what we've looked at in these verses. I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know that he is living whatever men may say.

I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer. And just the time I need him, he's always near. Now let me pause. Did not Peter and John and Mary need the Lord? Yes, he was near. The chorus. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me a long life's narrow way. He lives. He lives salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. I hope that you can say that today. I hope that you can sing that in a moment. See there are two kind of people here this morning. Those who can sing this song because this song is their song. You've been born from God.

Salvation has been imparted to you. Oh, you rejoice when you sing this song, but oh, there are others. You're outside of the grace of God. You've never been born of God. Salvation has not been imparted to you. You're outside of the celebration of this song. I urge you to come to Christ today. I beg you to come to Christ today.