Don't Make A Grave Mistake

DON’T MAKE A GRAVE MISTAKE

Matthew 27:62 – 28:1-15 NKJV

Matthew 27:62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

INTRO. Surprised while burglarizing a house in Antwerp, Belgium, the thief fled out the back door, clambered over a nine-foot wall, dropped down the other side, and found himself in the city prison. Oops! The Book of Blunders, 1980

A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, “Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?” The pastor replied, “Mary, that’s not a sin, why that’s just a mistake!”

Just ask the poor fellow whose grave at Boot Hill Cemetery in Arizona bears this epitaph: “Lynched by mistake.”

Matilda Kaye Crabtree, 14, of West Monroe, La., used to try to scare her father as a joke. Last week, she made a tragic miscalculation. She had planned to sleep over at a friend’s; instead she stayed home, hid in a closet and then made scary noises when her parents arrived. Her father grabbed a .357- caliber pistol. “Boo!” she shouted. His shot hit her in the neck. Her final words to him: “I love you, Daddy.” U.S. News & World, 11–21-94, p. 28

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

However, I want to go in a different direction. I want to talk to you about the fact that Jesus was mistaken by so many people. Even the resurrection was mistaken by so many people. And their mistakes were GRAVE mistakes in that it cost them ETERNITY!

Consider the CROWDS that followed Jesus. For the most part, they just wanted what He could provide for them. If they needed healing or had a family member who needed healing, they sought Jesus out! If they were hungry, Jesus fed them. At least two times the NT records that Jesus fed great multitude of people. They were amazed at His teaching.

The CROWD loved Jesus for what He could do for them. Earlier in the Passion week that crowd lined the streets of Jerusalem, waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna.” (save now)

John 12:12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!” 14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

That passage is a direct fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy which was made over 550 years before this happened:

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Most of the Jewish CROWDS missed their Messiah. They made a grave mistake!

Consider CHIEF PRIESTS. Why did the chief priests, Annas and Caiaphas hate Jesus so much? They made the mistake of thinking He wanted to take over FINANCIAL EMPIRE. Annas and Caiaphas were Sadducees. Annas had been high priest from A.D. 6 to 15. The Romans had removed him from office yet he still wielded considerable power behind the scenes. Five of his sons succeeded him as high priest. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas - the high priest who was in office at the time of Jesus ministry. Annas was still the one behind the scenes calling the shots, but notice the role of Caiaphas:

Matthew 26:3 Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4 and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.