Matt. 28:1- 20. ‘The resurrection - the greatest discovery ‘
There has been a number of great discoveries in our time, that has changed all our lives to some point. For instance can you tell me what the following people invented?
Levi Strauss, (1829-1902), USA — blue jeans. - Frank Hornby, (1863-1936), England — invented Meccano
Thomas Edison, (1847-1931), USA — phonograph, commercially practical light bulb. - Tim Berners Lee (1955-), UK — with Robert Cailliau, the World Wide Web. John Logie Baird, (1888-1946), Uk — an electromechanical television. Alexander Graham Bell, (1847-1922), Canada — telephone. Richard Drew, (1899-1980), USA — Sticky Tape. Samuel Morse, (1791-1872), USA — telegraph. John Harvey Kellogg, (1852-1943), cornflake breakfasts John Pemberton, (1831-1888), USA — Coca-Cola
The above have made an impact upon the world to some extent, but what is the greatest discovery ever made? Well it’s a discovery that is still being made today for many people, it’s the discovery that these first women make on the first Easter morning , that the tomb is empty, Jesus has risen from the dead and He is alive forevermore this is the greatest discovery which can impact your life for eternity.
The resurrection will have an effect upon every person who has ever lived or living on this planet whether we chose to believe it or not.
What does it mean? It means Jesus is the Son of God, God will accept us in his Son, death and sin has been defeated, we too will rise again, eternal life is certain , Jesus will return again , New and abundant life is available to all who believe.
Have you made this discovery? Have you found Jesus to be alive? I don’t mean only intellectually here today, it goes without saying that Jesus rose from the dead the evidence is overwhelming. But more importantly have you experienced the resurrection taking place in your own life? Have you come to believe it by faith Like those first disciples, our greatest need is not just to see or hear about the resurrection, but to have the resurrection happen to us.
Lloyd Ogilvie says, “The most powerful historical proof of the resurrection is the ‘resurrected’ disciples. Dull, defeated people became fearless, adventuresome leaders. Cowards became courageous; the timid became bold."
Come with me to that first Easter morning - and let’s see what these first women experienced and discovered in their own lives that had such a lasting impact that it transformed them.
a. V5 Do not be afraid, ( The resurrection brings joy not fear)
Here are the women on their way to anoint the dead body of Jesus come to mourn – it appears they are afraid, why? The fear of death? Quite possibly but look what’s happening. I think you would be when the unexpected happens v2 violent earthquake , the tomb stone rolled to one side v3 The angels appearance v4 the shaking guards, fall down as dead men. What an event to be in the midst of and to behold!
No wonder they were afraid..... fear must have been inscribed upon their faces. What about our fears? Are we in the midst of fears today? You children fear of the dark, fear of people , fear of going bald, fear of rejection, fear of disease, fear of illness, fear of growing old, the fear of death, the fear of war,the fear of attack,fear of others, the fear of disasters, the fear of futility of life, fear of poverty, fear of failure, fear of separation, fear for our children, the fear of the unknown, I wonder if out of all your fears the only healthy fear to have is the fear for God. Do you believe it?
Notice the voice of the Angel in the midst of the women’s fear cries out... “Do not be afraid.”
The reality of the resurrection is in the midst of many fears, it is a message of Joy. This world and all that we hold onto will pass away will be loosened out of our grasp , the tighter we hold on to the more we lose eventually it will be no longer there to support us.
• Like grains of sand in the hand as we tightly clasp them just drop through our grasp so will those things we hang onto in this world.
One day we will be at the graveside of our family memebrs, they will be no more (just like these people on these memorial plaques in the Church) but the resurrection for these people on this plaque and for us if we are Christians today, is that in the midst of all our fears – of what is going on around us - the voice of the Angel needs to echo loud and clear into our hearts and lives ‘Do not be afraid’ It is the most repeated commanded in all of God’s Word ‘fear not’ ....... Why? Because God is with us.
Putting it into practice: A little boy, who was afraid of the dark, was told by his dad to go to the unlit back porch and get the broom. He told his Dad he couldn’t because it was so dark and his Dad said, "Son, don’t be afraid, Jesus is out there." So the little boy went to the back of the house, opened the door, stuck his hand out into the porch and said, "Jesus, would you give me the broom?" Friends don’t be like this little boy - we can step out into the dark – face all our fears because Jesus is out there, He is alive!
b. V6 He is not here: he has risen (Jesus is alive not dead)
The women had come to mourn and anoint a dead individual but the wonderful message of Easter is that Jesus has conquered death and he is not to be found amongst the tombs – but amongst people, transforming people, bringing eternal life , where there has been eternal death.
Isn’t it true that so many of us fear death – life is to be enjoyed and lived out, death appears to bring things to an abrupt end . ( That’s because death was never meant to be) yet we are even trying to humanly combat death, in the USA they have come up with something called Cryonics where they freeze the body in liquid nitrogen. Yep but it is expensive though £100.000 freeze the whole body yet £30,000 just the head and when the get the necessary cure for your disease or the DNA to grow your body back their de-frost you and reconstruct you- needless to say it doesn’t come with any cast iron guarantee.
The only CAST IRON GAURANTEE come to us at Easter through the Angels message he has risen! Jesus conquered death through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Seeing and experiencing his death as the one that has atoned for our sins and seeing his resurrection as confirmation of the power to forgive sins and the power to raise us as well. Paul had experienced the resurrection power in his life - he had come to the point of dying to self and sin and living in Him the risen Christ. Col 1:27 Christ in you the hope of Glory
The message of Easter is “He has Risen.” That’s why the apostle Paul could also say as he approached death Phil 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
I have heard that hedgehogs are smart animals. You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road. There’s a joke that goes, “why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the hedgehog it could be done!” But hedgehogs turn out, to be very smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. They know there’s something in there. But if there are two sets of tracks. The hedgehog will enter and not be afraid.
The message of Easter is that although we to will enter the grave - we don’t have to fear death because there are tracks leading out of the tomb – Jesus arose! Paul said 1Cor 15:55 where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
c. V6 Come and see ( The call to investigate)
Here is a call from the angel to these women and to the world today to come and see to investigate the evidence for ourselves.There is nothing worse than simply dismissing the resurrection without any examination, just shutting out our minds and hearts to the resurrection truth. To say it just isn’t possible, will not suffice, The resurrection will stand up to scrutiny, be careful, not to ignore the evidence, The angel calls us to investigate‘ come and see.’
So often the farthest anybody is prepared to go is mere hearsay taking on board 2nd hand opinions, opinions you want to hear of others, despite all the evidence are you prepared to investigate?
Lord Chief Justice Darling said in regard to the resurrection, “In its favor then exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring a verdict that the resurrection account is true.
Take the test, let’s see what your powers of deduction are like ....... Power point time. Answers are: God is no where and God is now here – You girl and a old woman -2 the’s - Good and evil – illusion and delusion – teach and learn – me and you - 6F’s .
Friends there is overwhelming evidence for the resurrection firstly why not take on board the claims of Jesus himself on a number of occasions expressed to others is pending death and resurrection, then what about the eye witness accounts – of his enemies the guards, the authorities of his day, of his followers - the women, the disciples . Imagine if we could cross examine them.
Lee Strobel put it like this… “If we were holding a trial to determine the facts concerning the resurrection, and if we were to call to the witness stand every witness who personally encountered the resurrected Jesus and we cross-examined them for only 15 minutes, and if we went around the clock without a break…we would be listening to first-hand testimony for more than 128 hours…that’s over 5 days worth of testimony…who could possibly walk away unconvinced?”
The stories…they are too close. The written history is too strong to deny what they saw and what they experienced. One psychologist even said “over 500 people having the same hallucination would be more of a miracle than resurrection itself!”
Then what about the circumstantial evidence around us at the scene – the tomb was empty, the stone rolled away, the seal was broken, no body still today of Jesus Christ The historical approach – a time and space event - of history (recorded for us) and law –- Early Church fathers. And Personal experience – how could it be that these disciples would die and people die today for something they know is false.
PERSONAL TRUTH TO THE RESURRECTION: Christian author and activist Chuck Colson draws evidence for the resurrection for personal experience. Colson was a part of the Nixon Whitehouse during the Watergate scandal of seventies.
He writes: Watergate involved a conspiracy to cover up, perpetuated by the closest aides to the President of the United States and the most powerful men in America, who were intensely loyal to their president. But one of them, John Dean, turned state’s evidence, that is, testified against Nixon, as he put it, "to save his own skin" and he did so only two weeks after informing the president about what was really going on! The real cover-up, the lie, could only be held together for two weeks, and then everybody else jumped ship in order to save themselves. Now, the fact is that all that those around the President were facing was embarrassment, maybe prison. Nobody’s life was at stake.
But what about the disciples? Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stonings, execution. Every single one of the disciples insisted, to their dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.
Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did. You see, men will give their lives for something they believe to be true they will never give their lives for something they know to be false.
The Watergate cover-up reveals the true nature of humanity. Even political zealots at the pinnacle of power will, in the crunch, save their own necks, even at the expense of the ones they profess to serve so loyally. But the apostles could not deny Jesus because they had seen Him face to face, and they knew He had risen from the dead. SOURCE: Chuck Colson, “An Unholy Hoax?” From Break Point Commentaries, March 29, 2002.
Friends come and see the evidence is overwhelming I have investigated this out and so have many others and the truth is that Jesus is alive , investigate the evidence for yourself, please don’t ignore it, please don’t just get passed on the opinions of others, investigate it, the Angel said “come and see.”
d. V7 Go and tell (a call to tell others)
And then we see that they were too go and spread the joy of the resurrection with the disciples and that Joy has been spreading ever since around this world that Jesus is alive.
• Remember when your children were born. You’re on the phone telling everybody you know the good news, the sex name weight colour eyes and hair etc.
There is no greater news to share than the resurrection ....... Like any good discovery its not to be kept to one’s self but shared with others did Levi Strauss keep his discovery of denim? Did John Harvey Kelllog keep his discovery of cornflakes; did Alexander Graham Bell keep his discovery of the telephone? Did Tim Berneers Lee keep his discovery of the world wide web, the answer is a resounding No!
They were shared with the world, so that others might benefit . But all these discoveries pale into insignificance to the discovery of life other death. Eternal life to all believe! A new life! A new heaven! So we to must endeavour to go and to share this wonderful news that Jesus is alive and has conquered death. And finally
e. V9 Suddenly Jesus meets them. (Opportunity to worship)
Friends we all may gather here at CBC for different reasons this day it may be out of habit, out of tradition, BECAUSE ITS EASTER and it is the thing to do, we might be here for the company. But the real reason should be because we have meet with the risen Lord and we want to worship Him.
The only real response today like these women as we have made the greatest discovery the resurrected Saviour in your life is to fall at his feet clasping Him and to worship Him. HE HAS RISEN AND HE HAS RISEN IN MY HEART PRAISE THE LORD!
Further info to be found at www.cbchurch.org.uk
