INTRODUCTION
• VIDEO CLIP-Amistad
• SLIDE #1
• Today we are here together to celebrate an empty tomb! We are not here to morning a death, but rather to celebrate a life!
• We are here to celebrate our resurrected Savior Jesus Christ!
• In the movie clip these slaves who were on trial did not have a lot of hope. As they turned the pages of the Bible, you could sense a ray of hope even in the midst of the peril they were facing!
• Today as we look at the resurrection of Jesus, we need to realize that the resurrection is not a fairy tale to be appreciated but rather a fact that we need to embrace!
• SLIDE #2
• 1 Corinthians 15:16–19 (ESV)16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
• Death is not something worth celebrating, death takes from us, and death can steal our joy. For those who place their hope in this life only, they will be very disappointed in the end!
• The resurrection is really a theology of hope.
• The word THEOLOGY means- “the study of religion, especially the Christian faith and God's relation to the world.”
• For many in the world, the theology of their religion is nothing more than more pain and more frustration.
• Theology in part is the study of God’s relation to the world.
• For all other religions in the world there really is NO relation to the world for their religion.
• There is no hope found in them. Think about the major and even minor religions in the world and ask yourself what the hope is? What is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if you will.
• The word HOPE means- “to have a wish to get or do something or for something to happen or be true, especially something that seems possible or likely” NFL WAS NO HOPE FOR ME THAT WAS AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM!
• So not only do you need to ask what the hope is you need to ask if the hope has ANY basis in reality!
• Open your Bibles to Mark 16 as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus! Let’s see why we can celebrate the resurrection as a theology of hope!
• SLIDE #3
• Mark 16:1–3 (ESV) 16 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
I. Death brings a theology of hopelessness.
• Sometime after 6 pm on Saturday evening (this is when the Sabbath would end) Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome purchased some spices that would be used to finish embalming the body of Jesus.
• By the way in the account in the Luke 23:50-56 speaks of a different group of women who as the Sabbath was beginning they were preparing spices and apparently they did not have enough so once the Sabbath concludes the group of women in our text and in the parallel version of Matthew goes to purchase more spices.
• Now as we peak into and look at the scene as it is unfolding, these women are not full of hope.
• Death has brought them a sense of hopelessness. Death had stolen the one they loved; death seemed to have stolen their hopes and dreams.
• The women are not running to the tomb to see if it is empty, instead they go to purchase more spices to embalm the Lord, then they return home, and then the next morning they went to the tomb.
• On the way to the tomb they were discussing who would roll the very large stone away from the entrance of the tomb.
• The disciples knew He was dead also, they fled in fear!
• SLIDE #5
• Matthew 26:56 (ESV) But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
• The disciples found no hope in death. They thought all was lost with each rip of the cords with which Jesus was beaten.
• With each smack of the hammer to the nails in the Lord’s wrists and feet their hope vanished more and more.
• These men walked with the Lord for His entire ministry of three plus years, yet death stole their hope. Just a few days before they saw the crowds adore Jesus and now they see the life blood dripping right out of Him with each passing minute.
• After Mary Magdalene told the disciples that she had seen Jesus alive, they were still afraid even into the evening!
• SLIDE #6
• John 20:19 (ESV) On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
• Why did these men not have faith, why did they hope fade, because Jesus died? They saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, but here we have them men and women with no hope, a sense of hopelessness probably (from what we read in John) wondering when the hammer was going to drop on them!
• If Jesus died and that was the end of the story, we would be in trouble!
• I liked our clip where the one man told the other, the story is not over! Then he takes him to the resurrection pictures!
• The passage in 1 Corinthians 15:16-19 tells us that if the dead do not rise then Jesus did not rise and we are still lost in our sins. That would mean we could not be with Jesus!
• Now think about this for a minute. Many people around the world follow religions where you can go to a tomb and find the remains. Their “leader” or “founder” died and stayed dead!
• Those folks have no REAL hope of anything. Dead people cannot do anything for you! Those who adhere to those religions have no REAL hope because their “leader” could not defeat death as Jesus did!
• SLIDE #7
• 1 Corinthians 15:55–57 (ESV) “O death, where is your victory? O death, where 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.
• If you cannot defeat death you cannot do anything for me! There is no hope in death!
• Let’s look at verses 4-6!
• SLIDE #8
• Mark 16:4–6 (ESV) 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
• SLIDE #9
II. The resurrection of Jesus gives us a theology of hope.
• Now here is where it starts to get fun!
• As the women are approaching the tomb, they see that the VERY large stone has been moved!
• They are the first ones to the tomb! At this point Mary Magdalene most likely leaves the group thinking the body had been stolen, she reports back to Peter and John that it looked like the body had been stolen according to John 20:1-2.
• Then Peter and John get to the tomb and see it is empty, and then they return home. John 20:10. They still did not think He had been raised.
• Then Mary gets back to the tomb and Jesus appears to her! But at first she still thought Jesus was dead, thinking she was talking to the gardener! John 20:11-ff.
• SLIDE #10
• John 20:15–16 (ESV) 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
• Now things change for Mary, she is excited!
• She went from the depths of despair to the heights of joy!
• Seeing the resurrected Jesus brought TRUE hope to Mary and eventually to all the disciples as Jesus will appear to all of them shortly!
• The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith, without it we are just another group of people who are following a false god, chasing false hope!
• SLIDE #11
• 1 Corinthians 15:50–54 (ESV) 50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
• When you look at the Apostles, you see a group of men who were afraid they were going up on the cross next. They were full of fear and void of hope!
• Then we see them boldly proclaiming Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem, they were full of hope and void of fear!
• How does one explain the sudden spurt of intestinal fortitude?
• SLIDE #12
• 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 (ESV) 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
• What will change your life? What can help you break your slavery to sin? What can help you to become a new creation! What can give you REAL hope!
• The resurrected Jesus!
• DO you know who changed my life! Jesus Christ! The risen Savior!
• Let’s look at verse 7!
• SLIDE #13
• Mark 16:7 (ESV) But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
• SLIDE #14
III. The theology of hope learned from the resurrection is meant to be shared.
• The angel of the Lord tells the women at the tomb to go tell others and to let them know Jesus is going to meet them in Galilee!
• The resurrection was never meant to be a secret!
• It is something to be shared!
• Jesus was not resurrected from the dead only to be snuck away in the middle of the night!
• Jesus wants the world to know He is risen!
• Each one of you who are already are Christians had someone share the good news with you!
• We are called to do the same!
• SLIDE #15
• Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
• Jesus is not a secret to be kept but a joy to be shared!
• SLIDE #16
• Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV) “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
CONCLUSION
• Easter is a time of resurrection, a time of new birth.
• IF you are ready to be born again, to be a new creation in Jesus, to have your sins washed away; we invite you to come forward to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior!
