“I’m Not Finished Yet” is a sermon teaching us that a simple folded napkin in Jesus’ tomb holds is a signal for believers to share the Gospel.

Take our Bibles and let’s go to John chapter 20, John chapter 20 this evening. This is a message, actually, it was requested that I do this again. It had been many years since I had done it. So, if you’ve been here many years, you may have heard it before, or maybe you say, “I don’t remember this.” Well, it’s a good memory refresher, John 20.

As you’re turning there, let me go by way of introduction, simply this: there are many things that show or distinguish a place for people to recognize or for people to really recognize. They become a landmark. What do I mean by that? For instance, in the United States, we have certain landmarks that you know are here. You have Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty. You go to England, and one of the biggest things there is the Big Ben clock tower and Stonehenge. Italy has the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Paris, France, has the Eiffel Tower.

My wife’s favorite place to go to is just France. One day, maybe we’ll go there. China has the Great Wall of China, and Nepal has Mount Everest. And so, there are different places. If you mention a certain country, you know that there’s a landmark there, something that is important.

The Morning of the Resurrection

But tonight, I want to focus on John, on an object here that you may think is not really important, and we may think of it as not that important. But in reality, it was extremely important. Not only to the people who saw it that day, but it’s still a good reminder for us today. As we open the Bible, we’re opening the mind of God. So, let’s see what He has here in John chapter 20. Let’s come down to verse number seven.

John 20:7 “And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”

I submit to you this evening, as we look into the Word, that the napkin signals a method that Jesus is telling us as believers to do. This little napkin here in verse seven is a mighty symbol for you and me today, those viewing online all throughout the world, and it’s still going on today.

So, first of all, as we get up to verse seven, I want to just remind us of a few things. We’ve heard it all day. We’ve heard it in Luke this morning at sunrise. You all heard I was on the deck trying to help cook, which ended up not really cooking because other people did better than I did. And then it was heard in Matthew this morning about the resurrection. But let’s take a look at it from John’s perspective here.

John 20:1: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.”

“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark.” This is one of the premises here that people will use to say, “Let’s go ahead and do a sunrise service.” When we had the sunrise this morning, it was slowly becoming dawn. It wasn’t completely there yet, but by the time 6:45 started, there was enough light that we didn’t have to use phones and flashlights like we did last year because Easter came a lot earlier, I don’t know if any of you remember that, but I saw a lot of phones and stuff on the words last year. It was a little darker because it was earlier last year. Now, it’s a little later in the month than it had been, and this is probably where the premise comes from for a sunrise service here.

So, “when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre,” – Mary arrives and sees that the stone has been moved away from the tomb.

The Empty Tomb

Now, as we get into this tonight, let me explain a couple of things here.

Number one: There have been some theories about this. One of the theories is this – a stolen body theory, where disciples came by night, stole a body away, and that’s why Jesus isn’t in the tomb. Well, here’s the thing. If you look at Matthew 27 and look at the end of that chapter, the guards were the religious people. The Pharisees were telling the Romans that these followers say, “’Three days His body is going to go up.’ We need to protect that to make sure that doesn’t come true.” They put two guards there. It’d be a little difficult. They put a seal on there that would be difficult to get rid of. And so, some people believe that in the resurrection that it was stolen away. Jesus didn’t really resurrect.

Number two: The wrong tomb theory. Simply, they just went to the wrong tomb instead of going to where Jesus was. It was some other place. How that would be the case, I don’t know.

People think that another one is the hallucination theory, in which they basically say that Jesus was like a mirage, and we all just hallucinated. It really wasn’t real. It was just a figment of our imagination. Well, if that was the case, then you have at least 512 liars in the scriptures, of which a few of them wrote the Bible. Now, yes, I know sinners wrote the Bible, saved by grace. But they’re going to be lying about all that stuff if they didn’t really see Jesus.

This is the swoon theory, which goes back to the crucifixion. Jesus didn’t die on the cross. He just simply fell asleep, and so He was in this nice, long sleep for 70-some-odd hours, and then just woke up and walked out of the tomb. I don’t know how many of you would want to go into a tomb and be buried. I don’t know how many of us would want to be buried alive in a coffin today. I’m sure a lot of anxieties would shoot through the roof if that were the case.

So, we get to chapter 20 here, and she comes, and she sees it rolled away.

John 20:2: “Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.”

“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple,” – that would be John, and you get that throughout the narrative of John. That’s how he refers to himself. So, verse two, “and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.”

It seems to indicate that this scene takes place after Mary and the other Mary see the angel. The angel says, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” So, they go in there and clearly, He’s not there. They go back to see John and Peter. It seems to indicate, and it says that they don’t know where the body’s at. Or maybe they hadn’t seen the angel yet, or maybe they had. Either way, there needs to be more witnesses is the idea behind this. They didn’t know what happened.

We have a great foot race here in verses three to six.

John 20:3: “Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.”

John 20:4: “So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.”

So, they had a foot race. John won, but notice what happens here:

John 20:5: “And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.”

John wins the foot race, but instead of going all the way into the tomb, he stoops in, he bends aside, he leans over. He’s like, “Okay, everything seems to be okay.” He doesn’t even dare to go inside the tomb. Well, we know Peter is really the outspoken one of the disciples. Here, he doesn’t care. He’s going to go blast right through there no matter what’s going on here. That’s what happens in verse six:

John 20:6: “Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,”

So, John gets there before Peter and kind of peeks in. He doesn’t really want to go in. Peter probably was running out of gas, doesn’t know how to stop, and just blows right into the sepulchre there, and says “Oh, there’s clothes here.” Well, that’s great. It’s lying in there, and he notices a couple of things.

The Folded Napkin

First, he notices that the clothes are lying in there, and they are trying to figure out some stuff. But then they focus, in verse seven, they notice something unique here. So, secondly, we’re going to take a closer look. First of all, we have the perspective on this, and now we’re going to take a closer look here:

John 20:7: “And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”

Now, let’s stop there and let’s look at that one word, “napkin.” Napkin is defined, obviously. I may be being too elementary with this, but follow me here. Napkin, defined, is a cloth for wiping perspiration from the face and for cleaning the nose – we know this – and is used in swabbing the head of a corpse. That’s the definition I’m going to hold on to and so this term “napkin” only appears three other times in scripture, here in John 20:7, also in John 11:44:

John 11:44: “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.”

This is the context of Lazarus coming out of the grave, being wrapped up, and Jesus tells them just to let him free. He’s not dead. The other time it’s mentioned is in Luke 19 and verse 20:

Luke 19:20: “And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:”

This is the parable of the pounds. Here, the hidden pound, the one who had the one pound, goes and hides it in the earth and covers it up because he didn’t want to try to invest in more. Then the narrative continues on.

So, let’s look at a couple of things here. Notice the connecting word here from verse six. So, Peter goes in verse six:

John 20:6: “Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,”

And the napkin, very precise in the way that he’s making this known. He highlights this napkin. This is not mentioned in the other three Gospels. The other three Gospels, in the theological term world, are known as the synoptic Gospels. They all tie in and blend in around each other. John has a different perspective. Besides the fact that he covers the least amount of days of Jesus’s life at 20 days total, the others cover about 60 or so, roughly a little higher than that. But John writes it from a different perspective because he follows Him. Matthew did, but John had a closer relationship with Him, and he highlights these things because there are a lot of customs that he points out, and this is one of them here.

So, John writes, “And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes,” – so, you had the grave clothes, and then off to a distance, whatever distance that is, here’s this napkin wrapped together in a place by itself. Now, how in the world could that have happened? Well, I mean someone could have gone there and tidied up the grave and swept it up and realized that the napkin was there and wanted to put it nice and neat. Who would go into a tomb in the first place? I mean, it’s a dead person. Who’d want to go in there? Someone had to do it, and more obviously, had to happen by somebody on the inside.

But let’s open that up a little further here. Pack means to roll or to wrap up. It’s an action. This action had to take place. Someone had to wrap up this napkin, so let’s look at tradition, Hebrew tradition. When the meal is served for the head of the table and his servant, this is a nonverbal signal. I happen to have a little towel. But we’ll make this a napkin for tonight. It just happens to be conveniently right there, which I didn’t place there, but it was divine intervention. Why not? So, when the head of the table would eat in Hebrew culture, when he had his napkin, generally, he put it here. Sometimes, we put it here today when we have formal eating. But when he tosses the napkin, he’s basically telling the servant, “I’m done with the food. Pick it up, I’m finished. All right. But if he folds the napkin and puts it down on the table, this is a signal to his servant that, “I’m coming back to it. I’m not finished yet.” Wait, that’s the title for this evening. Okay, follow along, follow along.

In American formals, the napkin is on the lap when you eat at a formal banquet. You put it on your lap, and you eat, and then once you take that napkin and you put it on the plate, that indicates that you’re finished, you’re done, you’re completed.

Unfinished Work

So, what are we seeing here? Well, here’s what we’re seeing here. Verse seven again:

John 20:7: “And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”

Let’s tag along, verse eight, and let’s come to a thought here:

John 20:8: “Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.”

“Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and,” – and what’s the next word? “Believed.”

So, what was Jesus indicating in the tomb? He wasn’t finished yet. He was indicating in the tomb that the work is not done. There’s still work to be done. And so, what’s the action?

Number three: This napkin showed Peter and John that Jesus wasn’t done yet. There was still work to be finished, and so what would happen? Well, let’s continue on. Verse 15 will pop up next here, but let’s look at verses 8-10 here again in your Bible, and we’ll get to verse 15 in just a little bit.

John 20:8: “Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.”

John 20:9: “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.”

John 20:10: “Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.”

So, they left, they went back, but then Mary’s still trying to figure out some things here. They saw the napkin, they believed, and they went on their way. Mary is weeping. Not sure what’s going on. She’s questioning, she’s being questioned here by two angels sitting at the head, the other at the feet where Jesus was, and she was wondering what was going on here.

Let’s come down to verse 15. So, then Jesus comes and talks, but Mary hasn’t realized it yet.

John 20:15: “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.”

Basically, Mary thinks that this guy, who’s in front of her, is a gardener. She wants to find out, “Where’d you put the body? I know you had to clean up a little bit. Can you just tell me where the body is? I’ll take care of it.” But then you get to verse 16:

John 20:16: “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.”

And so, what happens is that you read later on in verse 18 that she goes and tells. What does she tell? That Jesus is risen. He’s not dead, He’s risen, He’s alive, He’s still at work, He’s still not done yet, He still hasn’t finished what He wants to do yet.

Let’s skip down and look at the other disciples. Come down to verse number 20 and then 21:

John 20:20: “And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”

“And when he had so said,” – He had said “Peace be unto you,” when they met that

evening.” Verse 20, “He shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”

John 20:21: “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

Here is the action that the folded napkin symbolizes: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

Send to do what?” To share that He’s risen, to share that Jesus is there, and He is God, and that He is the one who can save them if they believe in Him. He sends his disciples out to finish the work. He uses you and me, those who are Christians today, to continue the work. The work is not done yet. There are multitudes of unsaved people out there, and He uses people like you and me to share the Gospel with them. You will run into people I will never run into, and if we’re expecting someone else to tell them, then someone else may not tell them. Someone else may not tell them, and then what’s going to happen? No one’s going to tell them. So, it’s up to you and me to tell them, to tell them who Jesus is.

Why the Bible Was Written

Let’s look at two other verses here, and we’ll be finished here this evening. Come down to the end of the chapter, verse 30, and verse 31:

John 20:30: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book”

John 20:31: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

Why was the Bible written? Right here, “that ye might believe.” Why was the account of Jesus written in the book of John and in all the other spots in the Bible? That ye might believe that what? That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that believing ye might have life through his name.

So, the napkin is folded. The napkin is still folded. When is that napkin going to be unfolded? At the end of time, when the work’s completed. When is that going to happen? When God says so. It could happen in at least 1,007 years from now. It could happen a lot longer than that. Why do we say 1,007 years? Well, you have this if the Rapture were to occur tonight. If you’re a pre-Tribulation believer, then you’d be up into Heaven, and I believe that position about the Rapture. And then you have the seven-year Tribulation period, and then Christ comes to the earth the second time, rules and reigns a thousand years. Then you have the last battle between Satan and God. Satan’s wiped out forever, and you have the new Heaven and the new Earth. So, it could be at least 1,007 years from now that He finally says, “Okay, the work is done.” It could be a lot longer than that.

So, what does that, again, mean for us?

1 Corinthians 15:20: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”

Acts 2:24: ” Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”

Acts 2:32: “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.”

Acts 2:33: “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”

Jesus is up at the right hand of God right now, but He’s still using us to do the work down here. He’s done his work on the cross with the death and resurrection, but He’s using us, you and me, today to continue that, to share the Word, to share with other people how they can be saved.

God’s not finished with mankind yet. We must take this opportunity either to believe in Jesus ourselves or to go and tell others.

Mark 16:15: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

Matthew 28:20: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

This napkin in John 20:7 is an important little nugget in the scriptures because it helps us to understand that Jesus wasn’t done yet. The work isn’t finished yet to reach all mankind. Now, the work He did on the cross to save us from our sins was all completed, but the Gospel message is still alive and real and still is needed today. He uses ordinary people like you and me to share that simple and blessed truth with others. Will you do that?

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Father, we come to you in prayer. We thank you for the day you’ve given us. We thank you for the opportunity that we have to be here this evening. Father, I pray now that you would just help us as we think about people that we know, that we converse with, that we commune with each and every day, people we run into.

And Father, if we know that those people do not know you as Savior, I pray that you would help us when we come to this invitation time, that we could pray for them. Pray for them for their hearts to be open, and pray that they would receive the Gospel.

Father, we know that we have got to do what we need to do. But, ultimately, it’s up to man whether they choose to trust you or to reject you. We have to at least go and tell. Father, I pray that you just put that burden on our hearts this evening as we leave here from this assembly tonight, those who are here, those viewing online. Father, I do pray that you would just help us and give us the burden to reach out to the lost for you, that we can proclaim “His name is wonderful” because you are the Lamb of God, and that we can bring them in from the fields of sin.

Father, bless and move now in this invitation time. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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