MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(REVISED: 2018)
TEXT: 2 Timothy 4:7-8; Matthew 27:62-28:7
A. What a wonderful day this is! All over the world people are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, alive forevermore!
But we do that every Sunday as we gather around the Lord's Table. Every time we take the bread & drink the cup, we proclaim, “I know, I know that Jesus liveth, & on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know that life He giveth, that grace & power are in His hand.”
So we serve a risen Savior, & we look forward to that day when we shall stand with Him in a glorious heavenly home which He has prepared for all who have loved & served Him.
B. We treasure the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
"Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day ? and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
You know, as much as I love life, I too, long for the day when we shall see Him, & be with Him, & with all those people of God who have gone on before.
I want to see my father & mother again. I want to see my friends in China who were killed by the communists because they were Christians. I want to meet once again some of those Christians who helped me as I came to know Jesus as my Savior & my Lord.
I don't look upon death with fear, but with anticipation.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not wanting to die. But yet, one of these days I will. At least my body will. And so will yours. But the best thing is that I'm ready, because Jesus is my Savior & Lord.
C. In preparing this sermon, as I remembered some of the people & events of the past, for some reason my thoughts went back to when my first granddaughter was around 2 & 1/2 years old.
I thought she was one of the cutest little girls that God ever placed on this earth!
I can also remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice if time could stand still - if we could stay exactly as we are & always be happy & enjoy each other just as we do right now?"
D. But, of course, that didn't happen. In fact, it would be useless even to wish for that, because we can't stop the inevitable.
The chief priests & Pharisees found that out. After they had crucified Jesus they came to Pilate, & Matthew 27:63-66 tells us, 'Sir' they said, 'We remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After 3 days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day.
'Otherwise, his disciples may come & steal the body & tell the people that He has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.'
'Take a guard,’ Pilate answered, ‘Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.’ So they went & made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone & posting the guard.
I don't know if you see the humor in that, but I think God did. Can't you just see the hosts of heaven looking down, watching the priests & Pharisees issuing orders, & those soldiers grunting & straining to roll the stone into place, putting the seal of Rome on it, & then standing guard to make sure that nothing happened?
Can you imagine the God who put the sun into space being thwarted by a mere stone in front of a tomb? Can you imagine the God who created the power of the atom being stopped by a few Roman soldiers armed with swords & spears?
Matthew 28:2-4 says, "There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven &, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone & sat on it.
“His appearance was like lightning, & his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook & became like dead men."
What a scene! God spoke, & instantly an angel descends, the earth shakes, the stone rolls away, & the soldiers are paralyzed with fear.
The stone was only rolled away so that those coming could see in ? not for Jesus to get out. He was no longer in there anyway.
You see, the chief priest & Pharisees were trying to seal up the Son of God. But there was no way that they could succeed in doing that.
E. But sometimes it almost seems as if we, too, are trying to seal up Jesus. We put Him in a little corner of our life & say, "Lord, you're welcome to stay, but please don't try to change the way I think or act or speak. Just stay in your corner & everything will be fine."
PROP. But we dare not forget that this life is a preparation for eternity - an eternity in which we will be among the saved or the lost forever.
I. THE RESURRECTION PROCLAIMS THE POWER OF GOD
The message of Easter is that soldiers & seals & stones can never stop the plan of God. God marches on & His plan will be accomplished. We believe that because the tomb is empty & because Jesus Christ is alive.
I wasn't there. I didn't see what happened. But I believe in the resurrection with all my heart.
ILL. I wasn't there when the Germans surrendered in WW 2 either. But I believe we won & I have two good reasons for believing that.
1. First of all, through the years I have seen & heard the testimony of those who were there. They fought the battles. They won the victory, & they passed the good news on.
2. But I also believe because I realize that if we had not won that war our world would be greatly different today. We would not be a free country. Our nation would be vastly different if Germany had won.
I wasn't there when Jesus rose from the dead. But I believe it with all my heart, & I have two good reasons for believing that He arose.
1. First of all, I believe in the resurrection because eyewitnesses have told us that it is true.
In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 the Apostle Paul wrote, “For what I received I passed on to you... that Christ died for our sins ..., that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day ..., & that He appeared to Peter & then to the Twelve.
“After that He appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time. . . Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, & last of all He appeared to me also....”
I believe it because the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:1-2, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim. . .”
In other words, the apostle John is saying, "I want to tell you what we saw, what we felt, what we experienced. I want to tell you about Jesus."
SUM: I believe that Jesus rose from the dead because reliable people who saw what happened passed it on.
2. But maybe more important than that, I believe it because our world is greatly different because Jesus is alive.
In 1 Corinthians 15:14 Paul wrote, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
ILL. Did you ever see the cartoon of two Roman soldiers standing by the empty tomb? The stone was rolled away & one soldier was looking very worried because they had failed in their responsibility. But the other one shrugged & said, "Don't worry about it. A hundred years from now, no one will remember."
But a hundred years went by & people still remembered. And now, some 2,000 years later, God's people still gather & remember. And if the Lord tarries another 2,000 years, God's people will still be meeting to remember, because Jesus is alive!
And in the lives of those who belong to Him, sin & death have been conquered & the victory has been won. Our world is different because Jesus is alive!
II. THE RESURRECTION CHANGES THE WAY WE LOOK AT LIFE & DEATH
The resurrection also changes the way we look at life & death. When God talks about death in the Scripture He uses different words than we normally use.
A. Jesus talked about death as being like a wedding.
ILL. I've been to a lot of weddings & so have many of you. We have seen beautiful brides coming down the aisle. In fact, in all my years of performing wedding ceremonies I have never seen an ugly bride.
Jesus told us that the church is like a bride waiting for the coming of the bridegroom & that glorious moment when she will be with Him for ever & ever.
B. He also tells us that death is like sitting down to a banquet with God. God has invited us to His banquet. It will be a time of joy & happiness & fellowship.
C. Jesus also says, "Death is like going home."
At the end of a busy day it is wonderful to be able to say, "I’m going home." It is wonderful to be able to go home & relax, to feel the love & warmth of home, & to know that you have a share in all that happens there.
D. Death is also like a graduation.
ILL. A preacher friend of mine recalled his graduation from Lincoln Christian College. It was a hot May afternoon & he remembers walking up on the stage & receiving his diploma from the president. He recalls, "He shook my hand & looked into my eyes & said, 'Now go into all the world & preach the gospel.'"
He says, "I will never forget that, & I remember walking off the stage, clutching my diploma & thinking, 'This really represents a lot of papers that were written ? a lot of tests that were taken. Years & years of study are represented in this one little piece of paper.'"
"I looked at my diploma & just kept looking at it. 'There is my name. I gradu-ated. I did it!' Then I turned to the person next to me & said, 'Look at this. I really made it! Now let me see yours.'"
"He opened up his folder & it was empty. I asked, 'Where is your diploma?' He said, 'Well, I’m not really graduating today. I am just going through the motions. I haven't handed in all my papers, or taken all my tests.
'The school is giving me a few extra weeks. Then, if I have all my papers in, & if I have passed all my tests, I will receive a diploma. But today I’m not really graduating.'"
My friend thought to himself, "We studied together, we spent time together, & one graduates & the other one doesn't."
E. As I prepared this Easter message I wanted so much to paint a beautiful picture of an empty tomb & a beautiful spring day. I wanted to lift up the glorified Christ & say, "That is what it is all about."
But I am so fearful, people, that on an Easter Sunday I might paint a picture of false hope. And because the message of His resurrection is so wonderful, I might cause you to think that everything is all right – but it isn’t, not for everyone.
You see, some people graduate & some do not. Some homes are peaceful, while others are not. Some marriages succeed, but others do not. Some banquets are occasions of joy, but some are not.
In the same way, while the cross is a blessing for those who come & accept His sacrifice, it is a curse for those who turn away & never acknowledge Who is there.
The empty tomb is the greatest source of joy for those who know Jesus as their Lord & Savior. But it is also the greatest source of judgment & condemnation for those who do not accept Him.
SUM. No, you can't stop God. Not with stones in front of tombs or soldiers. You can't stop what God is doing in our world because God will be victorious & you will either be on His winning side or you won't.
That is the message of Easter. God is preparing us for something much better.
Just as He prepares a tiny little fetus inside the womb of a mother. Just as He knits together bones & flesh ? just as He makes eyes to see & ears to hear & a mouth to speak ? preparing that little body to be born into a new world, He's preparing us for a new world - a better world, a greater world.
INVITATION: So we offer His invitation, realizing that maybe there is someone here who has never accepted Jesus as Savior. We plead with you not to let this moment escape - not to let this moment pass by.
If you are without Jesus then come now, name His name, be faithful to Him in Christian baptism, arise to walk in the newness of life. God's invitation is offered to you. Will you come as we stand & sing?
