Intro and Overview of the Resurrection

So I have the honor of introducing this year's speaker, Pastor George Gregory. And he's a graduate of Geneva College, graduated from there in 2010, and graduated from our seminary, Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2012. He and his wife, Danielle, were born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That's where our seminary is, actually. And they have eight children. And two pairs of them are twins, actually. And unfortunately, one passed away, but is in glory. And so we rejoice in that sense.

He served as an associate pastor of the RP Church in Columbus, Indiana for four and a half years. And after significant medical complications, which would lead to the death of his son, he took a short sabbatical from pastoral ministry. That's referring to the son that passed into glory.

Eventually, he received a call to ministry at College Hill RP Church, the site that met at Fifth Avenue. It's another site of College Hill that they had, which began in August. And this ministry he had there began in August of 2018. And so the Fifth Avenue building in October of 2020 became the home of a sister church of College Hill RP, which was named Hope Community Church.

So we, Pastor George Gregory, we welcome you and we await your message. Thank you. It is certainly a joy for me to be here again. And I say, again, because this is actually my third time at this Iowa family camp. The first time we were here was whenever I was interning in 2010. 2010, I think it was, yeah. At the Washington RP Church here. And it was... It was such an incredible internship.

There was actually no overseeing pastor to keep an eye on me there, so I kind of had free reign of the place. No, the elders did a great job in keeping their eye on me, and I had a lot of support from back home. Dr. Danny Proutot would actually review every one of my sermons before I would preach them to the congregation, because I wasn't even licensed to preach yet, and yet they had me out there. I was preaching every week.

But part of the internship was for us to be able to come here to this camp and we just fell in love. This was, this is and still remains to be our favorite family camp. And we got the privilege to come back the following year when I was interning at the Stillwater RP Church. Got to drive up from Oklahoma and with the saints from that congregation to be with everyone here again. And we're so delighted to be back.

Sadly, my wife isn't able to join me this week. She's very disappointed because she loves the camp and loves all of you just as much as I do. But two Saturdays ago, she came down with a bit of a sinus infection that turned into pretty severe vertigo and kept her in bed for half a week or so. And she just wasn't ready yet to ride in the car all the way out here and be here for the week. So if you could keep her in your prayers, we'd really appreciate that. But her heart is here for sure. But she's back at home with our little girl, Joanna.

So as was mentioned, I'm Pastor George Gregory. I do bring greetings from Hope Community RP Church. I'm here with the rest of my family, Joshua and James Gregory. And we have Elijah Gregory over here, and Samuel Gregory over there, and Abigail and Elizabeth Gregory. So we get to know them, they're pretty sweet kids. And some of my interests are obviously studying God's word. I love being a pastor.

I love Pittsburgh Penguin hockey. Are there any hockey fans out here in Iowa? Are there hockey fans? Okay, we got some hockey fans. There's a Pittsburgh Penguin fan right there. Yes, a Penguin fan. I love history, particularly medieval history, British medieval history, and if you want to keep narrowing it down, Anglo-Saxon medieval history. And I also like Judo, so I got an eclectic set of interests. But you're really not here to hear about me.

You came to this camp to hear about Jesus, and that's what I'm here to talk to you about this week, to present to you our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from His Word. And one of my favorite introductions that we have to Jesus Christ is found in John's Gospel. Right in the beginning of John's Gospel, we're presented with Jesus, the Word, who was with God and who was God. It was this Word who was in the beginning with God through whom everything was created.

Life and light are in Him. And the life and light that we have as human beings comes from Him. We exist, and in Him we live and move and have our being. And God the Father sent this Jesus into the world not only to communicate to us who God is in truth, but to explain God's will and desire to save men, women, and children to Himself. and to save us out of sin and misery. And Jesus comes on the scene. He's introduced by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is the one who will be the atoning sacrifice for sinners from this lost and fallen world.

And from that point forward, from John's description of him and introduction of Jesus, Jesus goes on to perform a variety of signs or miracles, if you will, in the Gospel of John. And one of the things that's really interesting about what Jesus does in the Gospel of John is every time he performs a sign, He accompanies it, joins it together with some sort of teaching or preaching or discourse or speech describing what that sign was meant to be all about. And these various things point out who he is and what he will accomplish as the Messiah. And so I'll read some of the things that Jesus teaches us by his signs and speeches, and perhaps you can start thinking about some of the miracles that Jesus performed to lead you to that idea. And so we see that Jesus' miracles show that he is the one who will purify his people.

And you think of the water turned to wine from those jars of purification. A new life, a change, dramatic change in the life of God's people. He's the one who can heal man's corruption. He's the one who is the cure for the curse of sin. He's the one who satisfies the spiritual hunger of his people with eternal life. Jesus is the one who has come as the presence of God to be with his people. He's the one who gives spiritual light and sight to the spiritually blind. And it is in this Jesus that you find resurrection and life, the theme that we'll be looking at this week.

But Jesus teaches us these things, and He taught the people of His day these things, and yet as time goes on, more and more people begin to follow Him, but they don't see Him as He is. Eventually, he becomes rejected by the people. They become disillusioned with Jesus because he's not turning out to be the kind of Messiah that they had hoped for. They wanted a deliverer from Roman oppression, and this is not the Jesus that they had signed up to follow. He's not turning out to be the one they wanted, and so many begin to abandon him. And so we have, in the last few days of Jesus' life, His circle of followers dwindling until only about 12 of them remain, His 12 disciples.

And of course we know that one of them is a devil. Who's that? Which one is that? Judas, right? And so he betrays Jesus to the ruling authorities, and Christ, according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, is delivered up to crucifixion, to death on the cross, ultimately becoming that atoning sacrifice for sin, being that Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, as John had spoke of Him early on in the Gospel.

And it's here that oftentimes our thinking and our practical theology about who Christ is and what He has done stops. As we think about who Jesus is, and as we think about applying the work of Christ to our lives as his people, we tend to focus on Christ's sacrifice for us and all of the beautiful benefits that flow from it to us. We seek to draw joy and comfort and hope from his crucifixion. And this is good to do. It's good to examine his crucifixion and find hope and joy and comfort. We need to know and be comforted by the fact that Jesus has done something for our sin. That Christ went to the cross to pay the penalty of God's wrath that you and I deserve because of our sin.

We need to know and be comforted by the truth that we're no longer enemies of God Almighty. You know that one in whom it's a dreadful thing to fall into his hands? We're no longer his enemy. But we're His friends. We're at peace with God Almighty because of the cross. Because we are forgiven through the blood of Christ's cross. There's great comfort and joy and hope to be found in the truth that God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

But friends, there's a whole lot more. The Gospel does not stop there. Jesus has not only lived and died, but Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. And there's so much more beauty, so much more glory, so much more joy to be found and hope and comfort and peace in Jesus and for the people of God in His resurrection.

And that's what I want to look at with you in our time together. the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And while we could take a very systematic approach to the study of Christ's resurrection and begin to list off all the various evidences for the resurrection of Christ from the dead or the various truths about it and the specific benefits we could receive from it, that's not what I want to do with you this week. But I want to look at the resurrection of Christ using the framework that the Apostle John gives us in the Gospels. And consider the beauty and benefits of the resurrected Jesus in the narrative accounts of Christ's interaction with his people, as he interacts with people like you and me.

Because I think when we look at it that way, we can connect to Jesus a little bit more naturally, can't we, as we see him interact with people like you and me. We can connect with those truths in a more intimate way than if we were just to read about and discuss some systematic theology on the subject. And I don't want you to get me wrong, I love systematic theology. I'm one of those geeks who could lock myself in my office and read systematic theology from morning to noon to night. I love it, but that's not what we're gonna do this week.

We're going to look at John's gospel from the point of the resurrection forward, from chapter 20 to the end of the book. And as we do so, I hope that four main themes will emerge for you as a believer in relationship with the resurrected Jesus. And the first is the themes of joy and hope, then the theme of comfort, the theme of peace, And then finally, the theme of an awe-filled love for your resurrected Savior. Well, let me give you a brief summary of each one of these things this evening, the things that we'll be looking at this week. So first, we have joy and hope and the resurrection. We find that in John 20, verses 1 through 10. And we'll begin by considering what occurred the morning of the resurrection from the perspective of those who found the tomb empty.

And when we do that, one of the first things we realize right away is that the empty tomb for the disciples of Christ was actually a tragedy. It was a terrible thing in the minds and hearts of Christ's disciples right at the beginning, particularly for Mary Magdalene. You see, from her perspective, not only has our beloved friend Jesus been gruesomely crucified, But now his grave seems to have been plundered and she can't find his body anywhere. She can't even go to his grave site and mourn next to his tomb. And because of this she flees the site of the empty tomb in grief to find Jesus, other disciples, her friends Peter and John.

And children here, maybe you know and remember how sad you can be whenever someone or something close to you dies. Have you ever had a pet that you loved and loved to play with and loved to spend time with pass away? How sad you are when that happens. Or maybe there's a family member that you know and love who's died and has passed on. How sad you are when that happens. You can imagine how sad Mary is, knowing that her friend has died, and not only has died, but she can't even go to his grave to be there to mourn and cry at his grave.

What has happened to him? Now, children, did someone come and steal Jesus' body away? Did somebody take Jesus away? No, what happened to Jesus? Nobody took him away, but what happened? What's that? He became alive. Yeah, he rose from the dead. Nobody stole him. He rose up from the grave. He came out of the grave.

And it's a very exciting thing. It's a hopeful thing for us. You see, often our first thoughts of the empty tomb are ones of joy and hope because We know the rest of the story, don't we? We know what comes at the end. We know that Christ the Lord has been risen from the dead. And so we can say along with the Apostle Paul that death has been swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? We know what Jesus has accomplished through his resurrection from the dead.

The Christ's disciples, Mary Magdalene, they don't know that yet. They don't see that yet. And so what can we learn from that initial grief and tragedy of the empty tomb? And how might faith and belief in what Jesus has said and who he is, how can that bring joy and hope in the midst of grief and tragedy?

That's something we'll be looking at a little bit this week. And just as an aside, we'll also consider how different brothers and sisters in Christ can respond differently to the same situation. And we'll glean some wisdom from a learned and insightful pastor of old on that topic. But after we consider the theme of joy and hope in the resurrected Jesus, on Wednesday we'll move on to reflect on the comfort that we can receive from the resurrected Jesus. And we'll find that in verses 11 through 18 of chapter 20. Now despite Mary Magdalene still being in a condition where her soul is just broken and downcast and in despair, we see the resurrected Jesus show up. and bring comfort to one of his hurting, broken sheep.

Now kids, imagine again if that pet of yours that you loved so much that had died, or that loved one that you loved so dearly and died, a family member, what if they came back from the dead? to be fully alive and well again. How exciting would that be for you? How awesome would it be to see that person again? Imagine how happy Mary was to see her beloved Jesus again, to see him face to face.

Jesus comes back from the dead and brings comfort and joy to Mary. And as we see Jesus interact with Mary and bring comfort to her, we find this is the same resurrected Jesus who ministers comfort to you and me. He deals with us in the very same way. Now in this interaction with Mary, we behold the tender heart that Jesus has for his people. Even though Jesus has risen and reigning in heaven, he's not distant in mind and heart from those that he loves. those that He has died for. We don't have a God who's unconcerned about us or has more important things to attend to apart from us, but we find still in the resurrected King Jesus the caring, tender heart of a shepherd for His people. And beyond this, we learn from Christ that He grants His comforting presence to us in a close and intimate way. Christ shows Mary Magdalene and you and me what He ends up promising His disciples before the ascension, that He will be with us always.

And what a comfort that is for us to have a presence from heaven when we ourselves cannot be in the presence of heaven, but have to continue to walk through this broken and fallen world. Christ is with us. How sweet. What comfort that can bring to us.

And even so we're doubly blessed because Jesus grants us additional comfort to us by reminding us of the deep and intimate relationship we have as God's children. How will He not care for us? How could He not protect and provide for us? We are His sons and daughters.

And of all of this, we are assured and comforted by the clear and plain promises and words from our God, the one who gives us a sure and steadfast testimony in His word. So Lord willing by, let's see, by Wednesday we will have joy and hope in the resurrected Jesus and comfort from the resurrected Jesus and then on into Thursday we will reflect upon the peace that we can have through the resurrected Jesus.

Peace through the resurrected Jesus, John 20 verses 19 through 29. Now in that passage, we find the disciples gathered together in a room for fear of the Jews. Despite the fact that they've heard stories of Christ being risen from the dead, despite the fact that some of them have even seen Jesus risen from the dead, they're still gathered in fear. This world has brought fear into the hearts of these believers.

And so how will Jesus come and grant peace to their hearts? How can he do that for us as well? And what we find here is that Jesus fundamentally gives us peace by his presence. Again, picking up on that idea that we saw before with Christ being with us always, never forsaking us. Because Jesus is with us, we can have peace in the midst of fearful circumstances. Now kids, you know how it is when something scares you, right?

Maybe it's an unexpected flash of lightning or boom of thunder that you just didn't know was coming and it causes you to just jump up all of a sudden. I remember one of my kids in particular, a loud crack of thunder when we were living in Indiana. I swear the boy jumped up in the air and levitated into the house because he was so frightened. I mean, in a split second, he was gone. as fast as the lightning flashed. He was terrified.

Maybe the lights go out all of a sudden on a dark night. Or maybe you're on a walk with your mom and dad and there's a big loud dog that starts barking at you. Or maybe you wake up in the middle of the night from a really bad dream. Who do you want to be with you? Who do you run to go find whenever you're scared? It's mom, right? Or it's dad. You want your mom and dad to be with you. You want them close. Their presence, their closeness with you can calm you and bring peace to you when something scares you.

And we find that's what Jesus does with us all the time. He's with us all the time. And we can have peace in times of fear because we have the resurrected Christ's presence with us. We find as well that Jesus gives us peace by His Holy Spirit. His Spirit, yes, being one of the means by which He's present with us always, but we also experience peace in other ways that the Spirit grants to us. And we'll consider some of those ways that the Spirit gives us peace as we walk through this life by blessing us with understanding and insight and confidence in His Word. And Jesus also gives His people peace through the assurance of the forgiveness that we have. through the authority of His Word and by the wounds that He bore as a sacrifice for our sins.

Both of these things are highlighted and supported and secured by His resurrection from the dead. And so even though His people still experience difficulties and trials and anxieties and fears as they walk through this life, we can experience peace through our resurrected Savior Jesus Christ.

And finally, on Friday, we're going to consider some of the last moments that Jesus has with his disciples. These last moments with Jesus are found in John chapter 21, the whole chapter, verses 1 through 25. And we get to imagine what it would be like to have breakfast with Jesus on the beach. Wouldn't that be pretty cool? To be able to have breakfast with Jesus on the beach, that's the scene we're presented with in the last chapter of John's Gospel. We find our Savior meeting his dear friends to have close, intimate fellowship with them.

Now kids, if you could go to breakfast with Jesus, what would you order? What would you order if you could take Jesus to breakfast? What would you eat? Cereal. Okay. Cereal with Jesus. What else? What else would you eat? Anybody else? Biscuits and gravy.

I like that. Breakfast pizza with Jesus. Yeah. You could have pancakes, yeah. With a chocolate chip smiley face and whipped cream as hair. Yeah, I like that. Eggs and bacon. Eggs and bacon, yes. Because of the new covenant, Jesus could eat bacon. Right? Yes.

Breakfast with Jesus. What would Jesus order, you wonder? You know, these are delightful thoughts. Delightful thoughts. It'd be awesome to have breakfast with Jesus. What would that be like for us? What would it be like for us to see Jesus, to sit across a table with him and talk with him? What will it be like to see Jesus in heaven? What will our response and reaction be? We'll consider some of these things on Friday.

And of course, this meeting with Jesus comes after Peter had already decided to turn his back, to go back to his former profession and away from the calling of Christ on his life. And so what was it that turns his heart back to Christ? And knit him together with Jesus in such a way that Peter was willing not only to live for Christ, but serve Him and even go to die on a cross for Jesus. What was his motivation? We'll consider that motivation and see how it can and should impact our lives as well.

And one of the last things we'll consider about the resurrected Jesus is His sovereignty. The sovereignty of the resurrected Jesus over our lives. In light of that, who better to lead us? Who better to guide us? Who better to orchestrate our lives than the one who is the supreme and sovereign God over all things? The one who took on flesh himself, lived this life like one of us, and even though he died, walked through death to new and everlasting life. Friends, that's the one I want to govern my life. That's the one I want to be in control over my destiny.

And that's the one we're going to consider this week as we think about connecting with the risen Jesus. What life is like in light of the resurrection. And so I hope this week is as encouraging for you to experience as it was for me to prepare. I love God's Word and I love Jesus Christ and I pray that you will come away this week with a deeper love for your risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

That's all I have for us. Let me pray for our week together. Lord in heaven, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for how you have sent your word into this world to become flesh, to live like one of us, to be perfect for us, to die a wrath-bearing sacrifice in our place, and to be raised from the dead for our justification, to be one who has shown that the work he has accomplished was sufficient and more than sufficient to save us. And thank You that You have brought us into relationship with Him through faith. Lord, this week, please, we beg You to increase our faith in Christ. Cause us to love Him more. And to live with joy in our hearts, with comfort from our Savior, with peace in our hearts, and just to fall more in love with Christ. Do this by Your Spirit's power, we pray, for Your glory and for our good. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.