Lessons learned from a graveyard Part 2
Wed Night October 28th 2009
Mark 16:1-8
Introduction
Last Wednesday night I preached a sermon titled lessons learned from a graveyard in dealing with the death of Lazerus. We learned that Jesus has just as much authority over death as he does life, we learned that there are times that I move the heart of God, we learned that God has the power to do what he wants, but he chooses to use us, and we learned that sometimes God allows my situation to go from bad to worse, so that when he shows up there is no question as to who helped me.
The Bible teaches us that at some point in our life we might have the opportunity to entertain an angel unaware. And that would be an incredible experience!
But the angel I want to talk about tonight is not the angel that we might have entertained unaware but rather the one that we know for certain was at the tomb of the Resurrected Christ because the Bible records his appearance. So tonight as we go back to the graveyard, I want us to learn some more lessons from the graveyard, at the empty tomb of Jesus.
Read Scriptures: Mark 16:1-8
I. Sometimes we are guilty of acting without thinking our actions all the way through.
Mark 16:1-3 “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
Three women on the way to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. They have the best of intentions- no body can question their intentions. But it is only as they approach the tomb do they think about a major hurdle- they gave no thought to who is going to move the stone when they got there. What is obvious is that they certainly couldn’t move it on their own.
Sometimes we might find ourselves guilty of having the best of intentions but not being able to finish what we started because we didn’t think the whole thing through.
Sometimes the church of Jesus Christ is embarrassed because we had the best of intentions to do something but we did not think it all the way through so we didn’t accomplish what we set out to accomplish.
Luke 14:28-30 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.”
II. The angel reminds us that our God is a God of multiple chances.
Mark 16:7 “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
How many times did Peter mess up after becoming a disciple of Jesus? Denying the Lord three times was not his first mess up.
Didn’t Peter seeing the wind began to drown as he came to Jesus on the water. And Jesus said, oh, you of little faith. Wasn’t that a mess up.
Wasn’t it Peter who drew his sword and cut off the right ear of Malchus when they came to arrest Jesus and Jesus had to correct him and had to restore the ear?
By the angel mentioning Peter by name God was telling Peter and he was telling us that God is gracious with the number of chances that he gives us.
If God gives multiple chances to me, then how many chances should I give my brother or sister in the Lord?
III. By the angel being the messenger, God reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that are cheering us to the finish line.
Mark 16:7 “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
I believe that this Scriptures tells us that the angels of heaven saw Peter’s denial. And now they are pulling for Peter’s restoration.
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Luke 15:7 “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
If we were to keep in mind that we are watched by heaven wouldn’t it seem that we would desire to sin less.
IV. Notice that the women didn’t do what they were asked by the angel to do.
Mark 16:8 “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
Then it was Jesus who gave them a second chance.
Matthew 28:8-10 “So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Conclusion
This whole story is a story of chances. The resurrection is my second chance. The angel specifying Peter is his second chance. And Jesus appearing to the women is their second chance.
Maybe you need to give someone another chance, maybe you need to come to the altar tonight and pray for yourself and for them.
