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!
• SLIDE #5
• Matthew 28:12–13 (HCSB) After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him while we were sleeping.’
• The religious leaders were not even willing to go see for themselves. They did not even dispute the facts that the soldiers had explained to them.
• By the way, in case you did not know, the typical size of a guard detail of Roman soldiers was 60 men.
• There were more than likely 60 well trained professional soldiers guarding the tomb when the body “DISAPPEARED”!
• If the soldiers were ALL asleep, how did they know what happened? Sleeping on duty was punishable by death by the way.
• If the disciples did indeed steal the body, do you realize that the apostles all KNOWINGLY died for a LIE? They preached in the streets after hiding while Jesus was being crucified! WHY?
• Easter turns the world upside down, but the response from God is, “Do not be afraid!”
• Do not be afraid to approach Jesus, He is NOT in the tomb! He will change your life in ways you cannot imagine! Now verse 6 we see something else we should be led to do.
• SLIDE #6
• Matthew 28:6 (HCSB) He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.
• SLIDE #7
II. Come see the evidence for yourself.
• One of the biggest misconceptions about becoming a follower of Jesus is that you have to leave your brain at home and just believe what you are told with no evidence to back it up.
• Notice that the angel did not expect the women to just take his word that Jesus had risen, but they women were told to come and see!
• This is clearly an invitation to our minds by the angels. The God of the Bible respects our intellectual capacity.
• God is not interested in blind faith. Our future cannot be based on some naive notion that He “might” be alive.
• Jesus NEVER told you that your mind died with you old self. Admittedly, sometimes as Christians we are our own worst enemy. When we act like we are brain-dead, it promotes the myth.
• God has not asked you to take a blind leap of faith.
• Our faith is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Our faith in Jesus is built on historical evidence.
• We have Jesus appearing some 13 times that we have recorded in the New Testament, even to over 500 at once. Jesus did this over a period of 40 days.
• Here is the problem. People do not want to look at the evidence and if they did, they would not want to accept it.
• I am not going to lay all of it out today but we have fulfilled prophecy, we have Jesus own statements.
• We have eyewitnesses who have attested to what Jesus did. We have the effect that Jesus has had on the world.
• We have the evidence of creation to point us toward God.
• The evidence is there. The question is “Are you going to be honest enough with yourself to examine that evidence and then deal with the consequences and implications of that evidence.”
• Do you really believe the universe with its precision just came about with no design? WATCH ILLUSTRATION!
• What do you do when you realize the evidence points to Jesus being raised and alive today? In verses 9 and 17, when people realized they were in the presence of Jesus, they worshipped Him!
• You are invited to come see for yourself!
• In verse 7 and verse 10, we will see the next thing we should be moved to do since Jesus is alive!
• SLIDE #8
• Matthew 28:7–10 (HCSB) 7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.” 8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there.”
• SLIDE #9
III. Go and tell others about Jesus!
• If you look at this text we find that both Jesus and the angels called the people to action. After the women were invited to examine the evidence, they were told to go and tell others!
• When we know the truth about Jesus we are supposed to tell other people about Jesus.
• If we will not tell other people about Jesus, then what good is our faith?
• Our society tries to tell us that faith is a personal thing and that we should keep it to ourselves. Where is that in the Bible?
• It is very selfish for us to have Jesus and not share Him with other people. If you are like me and you come across a good product, you want to share it with other people.
• You want them to have what you have. If you held the key to curing cancer, would you tell yourself that you do not want to impose your cure on people stricken with the disease?
• We are to tell other people about the risen Jesus. We are to tell them the good news about salvation and eternal life. We to tell other people about the forgiveness that Jesus offers to all.
• Let’s look at verses 19-20
• SLIDE #10
• Matthew 28:19–20 (HCSB) 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, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
• This last observation is closely tied to this one, knowing Jesus is alive should lead us to…
• SLIDE #11
IV. As you live help make others to be disciples of Jesus.
• Jesus did not tell us to quit living life, as a matter of fact verse 20 literally reads, AS YOU GO, make disciples. In other words, as you go about living your life, make disciples!
• This is where we are able to take people out of their spiritual cemetery and bring them into eternal life with Jesus.
• Verses 19-20 are the climax of the Gospel of Matthew. The whole reason for what Jesus died for was so that all could be saved!
• We cannot just tell people about Jesus and forget them. At the end of this chapter, Jesus gives us a mission.
• We are to take the gospel to all parts of the world and make disciples of all nations! The gospel is to leave no stone unturned or corner unreached!
• We are to baptize those who want to place their faith in Jesus. A person who wants to give their life to Jesus for their salvation will repent of their sins and they will confess that Jesus is Lord.
• WE cannot just get people wet, they have to want to serve Jesus all of their lives!
• When they are ready to make that type of commitment, then they are ready to be made disciples of Jesus!
• Baptism is the initiation process by which one is brought into a new relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• Our job does not stop at the water tank, we are then supposed to continually teach the new disciple all that Jesus commanded. We are supposed to ground new disciples in the authoritative teaching of the scriptures.
• This is what helps the disciple to grow closer and into more of the image of Jesus!
• In verse 20 Jesus gives us a conditional promise, if we carry out what He calls us to do in verses 19-20, Jesus WILL be with us!
• AMEN!
CONCLUSION
• The Easter holiday leaves us in somewhat of a dilemma.
• What do we do with Jesus? We cannot very well leave him in the tomb, He is not there, we cannot leave Him on the cross, and He is not there! What do we do with Him?
• Do not be afraid. Come to Jesus.
• Come see. Jesus wants you to look at the evidence.
• Once you become a disciple of Jesus, you are to go tell others and you are to make more disciples!
• Today you only have two choices, to accept Jesus, or reject Jesus. There is no middle ground.
• Easter gain REAL meaning to me when I gave my life to Jesus, what about you ,are you ready?
