Moving Out Of The Cemetery Series

INTRODUCTION

• OPENING VIDEO CLIP

• SLIDE #1

• Easter is a holiday that makes NO sense without Jesus.

• Why did Jesus suffer as He did? When we come to the realization as to why He died, we then need to make a choice!

• Do we accept Him as our Savior or do we ignore Him and live life as nothing realty happened?

• JESUS HAS BEEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD! JESUS DEFEATED DEATH! THIS IS WHY WE ARE HEAR TO CELEBRATE TODAY!

• EASTER IS NOT ABOUT MORNING A DEATH, IT IS ABOUT THE SAVIOR DEFEATING DEATH!

• Jesus died, but He did not stay in the grave, He moved out of the cemetery! He is the only one to do it!

• THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS SHOULD MOVE US TO DO SOME THINGS DIFFERENT IN OUR LIVES. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES JESUS BEING RAISED FROM THE DEAD HAVE IN YOUR LIFE? WHY SHOULD IT MATTER?

• One of the ways we can avoid facing the life-changing choice concerning what to do with Jesus is to leave Him in the tomb or the cemetery. Or to deny the resurrection.

• If He is dead, what’s the use?

• Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Jesus is still dead, then our faith is worthless and we are still in our sins and furthermore, we are to be most pitied of all people for our false hope.

• Today as we look at Matthew 28, we are going to look at four things we should be moved to do as a result of Jesus’ exit from the cemetery.

• SLIDE #2

• Matthew 28:1–5 (HCSB) 1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men. 5 But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. Do not fear the empty tomb!

• The two Mary’s head to the tomb expecting to find the body of Jesus in the tomb, but instead they find something unexpected, an angel of the Lord at the tomb.

• The angel says “DO NOT BE AFRAID.!”

• REALLY!

• The reaction of fear would be natural. This is a statement that we find throughout the bible when people would come in contact with angels or deity.

• When the angels appeared to Mary, she was afraid, when the angels appeared to Joseph, he was afraid. When the angels appeared to the shepherds, they were afraid.

• It seems like one of our first reactions to God is fear, I know as a child the church I was raised in seemed to pound in the thought that we should fear God.

• In some ways I can understand the thought process, we fear what we do not know.

• In one sense we should fear the Lord, but not with a hide in the corner cowering fear, but rather a respect.

• I feared my father, but I was never afraid of my father, but I have a deep respect for him.

• Fear is one the big reasons people do not come to Jesus.

• As the ladies approach the angel, he could sense the fear in them. Mary and Mary did not know what was going to happen. The ladies were fearful of the unknown!

• Many people are afraid of the unknown of following Jesus, even if their life is a Greek tragedy, they KNOW what they are facing!

• Some are afraid that somehow Jesus will turn them into a Jesus freak who does nothing but read the bible and go to church.

• Fear alone will cause many to reject Jesus.

• The religious leaders were terrified of Jesus, they were afraid they were going to lose their positions of influence.

• Even after the crucifixion, I believe they feared that He would rise from the dead.

• SLIDE #4

• Matthew 27:62–63 (HCSB) The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive He said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

• When some of the guards went to the religious leaders to report what had happened, the religious leaders paid the guards off and told them to lie!