Journey to the empty tomb
Matthew 28
Introduction-
If you would turn to Matthew 28, we will shortly be looking at the text of Jesus resurrection and what that means for you and I.
This morning, I will be bringing an Easter message instead of a Palm Sunday message. Because next week, we will be presenting some Easter skits that you will not want to miss. It will be an opportunity for you and I to bring someone to hear the gospel message by drama.
Illustration-
Jim Cymbala the senior pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York tells a story of one of his Easter Services where he was so tired after a service that he just hung his feet over the stage and was just relaxing when his eyes made contact with a man sitting in front of him about six rows back. He could tell he was homeless and he knew that this man was going to ask for some money. When the man approached, he asked the man his name… David was his reply. How long have you been on the street? Six years. Where did you sleep last night David? In an abandoned car. How old are you David? Thirty two was his answer, but he looked every bit 50+ because of weathering so badly. His hair was matted and the smell was horrific. Jim reached in his back pocket to get some money, knowing that they usually don’t give money but usually take people to get something to eat. As he reached back, David pushed his hand away and said, I don’t want your money, I want the Jesus you talked about. I am not going to make it, I will die on the street.
That day, Jesus changed David’s life. A true conversion, a life change! David started memorizing scripture, allowed God to change his life, and David went on to serve at Brooklyn Tabernacle first as a maintenance man and then called into the ministry.
Pastor Cymbala began to weep- Poor David didn’t know what was happening! He says, I pleaded with God, “God, forgive me! Forgive me! Please forgive me. I am so sorry to represent you this way. I’m so sorry. Here I am with my message and my points, and you send somebody and I am not ready for it.
If you are sitting here and thinking Easter is all about you, all about eggs and food and family gathering-you will miss Easter. Easter is all about Jesus! Start to finish it is about Jesus. There is a difference between celebrating Easter and the living of Easter.
Bruce Larson said,
“The events of Easter cannot be reduced to a creed or philosophy. We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead.
In faith, we move from belief in a doctrine to a knowledge of a person. Ultimate truth is a person. We met him. He is alive.
Illustration-
In 1957, Lieutenant David Steeves walked out of the California Sierras 54 days after his Air Force trainer jet had disappeared. He related an unbelievable tale of how he had lived in a snowy wilderness after parachuting from his disabled plane. By the time he showed up alive, he had already been declared officially dead. When further search failed to turn up the wreckage, a hoax was suspected and Steeves was forced to resign under a cloud of doubt. His story was confirmed, however, more than 20 years later when a troop of Boy Scouts discovered the wreckage of his plane.
Another “survival story” from centuries ago is still controversial. A man by the name of Jesus Christ walked out of the wilderness making claims a lot of people found difficult to believe. He was later executed and pronounced dead. But 3 days later, He showed up alive. And there have been skeptics ever since.
Consider the facts of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. His integrity is well-founded.
Prophets foretold His coming.
Miracles supported His deity.
Eyewitnesses verified His resurrection.
And today the Holy Spirit confirms that Jesus is alive to anyone who is seeking to know the truth.
Stop for a minute-
Did what He said He would do
There was no doubt something special about a man who could heal the blind and cause crippled people to walk again.
Proven witnesses to His resurrection by all kinds of different people including historians who were not even believers.
To me most important- the promised Holy Spirit of God to us today that confirms in our Spirit that there is truth in this Jesus. Down deep we know we are sinners and we know that Jesus is the only way to not die in our sins.
You can believe it! But do you?
Each one of these factors helps us make our decision about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means to us.
THE RESURRECTION IS A FACT OF HISTORY AND DEMANDS A RESPONSE- NO RESPONSE IS A RESPONSE.
Where we pick up the text;
Jesus had already gone down the Via Delarosa, on His way of suffering and been mocked, ridiculed, and ultimately crucified for proclaiming to be the Son of the living God.
He was betrayed by Judas.
He was betrayed by Pontius Pilot who though he knew better, took the ways of loud mouth people who he spared the life of Barabus, a known murderer.
An innocent man was put to death.
He was buried in a borrowed tomb with guards standing in front of the entrance just in case what he had said would happen…would actually happen.
“Go make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guards.”
Most people think the guards put that rock in front of the entrance to the tomb, but it was not.
27:59- “Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.”
That is why the guards had to make sure the tomb was secure and why they put their seal on the entrance.
Matthew 28:1-10 Read from Bible-
If that Scripture doesn’t cause your spirit to jump with excitement, set your feet to dancing, your heart to jumping, and your mind to worship.
What Jesus had said would happen... happened. What the prophets predicted was now coming to pass.
The women had gone to the tomb to check it out and check Him out.
They had wanted to finish preserving the body of their Lord Jesus.
When they got there they were greeted by an angelic being who had opened the tomb.
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as He said.”
Notice he comforted the women there but the guards were paralyzed with fear. They were like dead men. They received no comforting.
The women were told to go tell others what Jesus had just done.
This is the gospel in a nutshell.
Different reactions to the resurrection.
The women went to spread the gospel and the resurrection of Jesus.
The guards went to spread lies that the resurrection did not really take place even though they knew that they had just experienced it.
The greatest miracle of God is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the greatest blessing God could do for each one of us is provide us a way of salvation.
The Good News is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We celebrate his birth (Christmas) and His resurrection (Easter) it all had to happen.
Any part eliminated and we would have died in our sins and it no longer would be Good News!
No one could stop the plan of God.
Not Satan, not the Pharisees, not even Pilot or any elected official.
Jesus was going to the cross and there would be a resurrection so that we had the opportunity of a resurrection for our lives and be freed of our sins.
The only way you can stop the plan of God for your life is to not accept what Christ has done for you on the cross.
Pilot asked the crowd, “What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the messiah? The crowd answered “Crucify Him”! He was surprised by their decision, “I am innocent of this man’s blood, he said, it is your responsibility”! Matthew 27:22-24.
We cannot wash our hands of a decision, we accept what He has done or we reject it. To do nothing is a rejection.
One of Jesus last words on this earth recorded in John chapter 19 is “It is finished”
It was finished because He came and He died for our sins- and He was sure that God the Father was going to resurrect Him
He has done all He can do for us.
He will do everything accept force you and I to do something we don’t want too. If He did that, it would not be free will, it would be forced and robotic and when choice is taken away, it would not be His gift for us.
For those that reject His resurrection, He stands with open arms.
For those that say they believe the resurrection but will not allow the resurrected Jesus to change their lives, He stands with open arms.
For those that struggle with doubts, He says come and I will make you a believer.
For those that reject Him openly and have no desire to come, He says I love you enough to offer you salvation but if you want to spend your life without God, He will not force you to spend eternity with him, He will separate himself from us. It is what we wanted and He will give us what we wanted.
What are you going to do with the resurrected Jesus this Morning?
Closing,
Was the stone rolled away so Jesus could get out? No, He was already gone- it was so a world could see that Jesus did just what He said He would do.
1 Corinthians 15:7-
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”
Can you imagine the excitement they experienced when they looked into the tomb and saw it was empty?
Once they got it that Jesus was not dead but alive, that He was resurrected and that because He was resurrected that they would experience the resurrection one day themselves.
Do you think there were tears of joy?
To run to Jerusalem and see their resurrected Savior- One day we will experience Him staying in front of us with His arms wide open and love beyond all measure-
I can only imagine-
Song by MercyMe
I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When your face is before me
I can only imagine
Surrounded by You glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
What a wonderful day that will be!
What you are experiencing right now is not a religion, it is not a doctrine, it is not a denomination, it is the spirit of God bearing witness to your spirit that Jesus is alive and He desires for you and I to have a living relationship with HIm not only in heaven but here right now.
The empty tomb means we hae a chance for new life!
Listen to the words of Peter- you know the one that made big mistakes, the one that denied Jesus three times- listen to the forgiven Peter
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into the inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
