40 Days with the Lord
Part 1 – The Day After
Rev. Bruce A. Shields 4/30/2006
First Baptist Church of Tawas City Michigan
www.tawasbaptist.org
WELCOME
SCRIPTURE READING
Luke 24:1 – 12 (The Resurrection)
“1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ’The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ “8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.”
PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT & UNDERSTANDING
Our new series is entitled “40 Days with the Lord”, we have all heard the story many times of Jesus’ ministry, His crucifixion and His resurrection.
What we do not talk about very often is the 40 days He spent with us in His resurrected body before His ascension back into heaven to be with the Father.
We’re going to begin our story where our story begins, with the resurrection.
Resurrection Day, Easter, just took place a couple weeks ago, so it is fitting we begin there.
Our scripture shares with us the most important fact of our faith and our belief is a simple yet powerful statement, Jesus Christ lives!
He has conquered death, to give us life, with the Holy Spirit in us!
The life of Jesus on earth did not end at Calvary… it continued on earth for 40 days and beyond in heaven.
We have at least 15 accounts of Jesus appearing before His ascension within these 40 days, to show us truth of His word, fulfillment of God’s Word, and to give us instruction on living His Word.
Sunday morning, the women came to the sepulcher.
In verse 55 of the previous chapter we see that these women were the women that came with Jesus from Galilee.
Why did they come to the tomb of Jesus that morning?
To bring the spices they had prepared for Jesus’ corpse.
This is what they were accustomed to doing for the dead.
They weren’t there to see the risen Lord.
In fact, they did not believe He was going to rise as He said.
None of them did.
Not the women, not the disciples, or anyone else for that matter.
We know this from the fact that they had prepared His body as they would any other person who died.
They buried it, and closed the tomb.
If they believed He was to rise from the dead, they surely would not have closed the tomb.
They were bringing spices this Sunday morning.
We have the same problem with a lot of people today.
They don’t realize that the Lord is alive.
They do not know that the Lord, though He was crucified for our sins, has risen!
And we sometimes approach Him with our spices or sacrifices, as these women did this Sunday morning, as if He were dead, and inaccessible.
We need to realize that HE IS ALIVE!
They arrived at the tomb, and the stone had been rolled away.
This wasn’t a little rock.
These sepulcher stone doors usually weighed hundreds of pounds.
This alone was no doubt very strange to them.
They entered the tomb not knowing what to expect.
This is so true for us as well!
We go seeking the Lord, not taking into account that He is Alive, and we go with certain expectations, just as these women did this Sunday morning.
They expected to find a closed tomb.
When I first looked for the Lord, I had expectations as well.
But what I expected wasn’t what I found. Thank God, He was more!
More loving;
More gracious;
More caring;
More forgiving;
Just more!
When we first arrive where we believe the Lord is, sometimes we find He’s not there.
This is what happens when we look for God on our terms.
But He is faithful, and promises that if you are truly seeking, you will find Him.
He leaves us messages, a road map if you will, to those who are truly seeking Him.
Seek and ye shall find.
You have heard “Knock and the door shall be opened”, I say go in, because the Lord has already opened the door for you, knowing and expecting your arrival.
One thing I’ve learned about God over the years, He is always one step ahead of you.
That’s what the Good Shepherd does; He goes ahead and clears the path in the way you should go.
These women came expecting to see a dead Lord and a closed door.
But instead they find an open door and a living Lord!
So many times in our lives, we draw a picture of God within our minds.
We expect Him to be and appear and act in a certain way, and we question if He does not fit in our little earthly box we have created for Him.
But the Lord’s ways are above our ways.
The Lord, knowing we are searching guides us to where He is at.
Angels were waiting as God had instructed them.
Shining so bright in the reflected glory of God that the women feared them and had to avert their eyes.
They were afraid.
And rightly so, for even the reflected Glory and Holiness of God is too much for our earthly frames to endure.
And the angels spoke to them saying, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
How often we look to fill our spiritual void with the things of this world.
How often we look for life among the things which are dead.
That void was created by the fall.
Mankind spiritually died that day in the garden.
God’s word said “eat of this fruit and you shall surely die.” He was speaking of spiritual death as well as physical.
You see, Lucifer wanted us to die spiritually.
Because as long as we have the Spirit of God in us, the devil can not manipulate us.
He wanted to be God, therefore he needed servants.
These servants had to be spirit free, so he could give them his spirit of evil.
Ecclesiastes 11:9 Warning to the Young
“Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.”
This is why the scriptures tell us to judge one another’s fruits, because in doing so you will know of what spirit that person is.
Matthew 7:19-21
“19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 7:16, 17
“16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”
A good tree will bear good fruit; these are the fruits of the spirit.
Good fruits from a good spirit and bad fruits from a bad spirit.
Galatians 5:19-25 Good and Bad Spiritual Fruits
“19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery (dishonesty – a liar); 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions (Disagreement among those expected to cooperate), factions (A group that seeks power) 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit (the good fruit) is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
You will know them by their fruit.
Are they keeping in step with the Holy Spirit? Or as we often say, walking in the Spirit?
We are supposed to judge ourselves, our actions and thoughts, to ensure that we too are doing God’s will. And if we judge ourselves, we do not need to worry about God’s judgment. Because, if we are doing God’s will there is no need for God to correct us.
1 Corinthians 11:31, 32
“31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
The judging we should never do, is judging a man’s heart. We cannot, and do not have the authority to tell someone if they are going to heaven or hell.
Only God knows the heart of a man and if he belongs to the Lord.
2 Chronicles 6:30b
“…Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of men),”
And only Jesus Christ is the Righteous and just judge, who sits upon the throne!
We are told to judge those we associate with…
1 Corinthians 5:11-13
“11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
Did you catch that?
What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?
Jesus said in;
John 12:46-48
“46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47 "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.”
This is why Hebrews 4:12 refers to the word of God as a 2 edged sword, the same word that saves is the same word that will condemn them on judgment day if they do not accept it.
We are doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what this scripture says to do in our church today.
We are NOT TO JUDGE THOSE OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH.
The sinners.
Jesus said so.
God’s word says so.
1 Corinthians; “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?”
Jesus; “…For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”
Yet we judge those outside of the church, condemning them, turning them away from the ONLY PLACE THAT CAN SAVE THEM!
We are doing the exact thing the Pharisees did! Putting ourselves between the sinners and God!
And the ones we are supposed to judge, those IN THE CHURCH, we ignore their sins!
1 Corinthians; “Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
We are afraid to correct sin within our church because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, or we think we are not to judge others.
WRONG.
This is why there is so many people lost in the world…they are being pushed away from God because the church is judging them, and this is also why there is so much sin in the body of Christ because we do not judge ourselves as we are told to!
1 Corinthians 5:1-5 Judge those in the church
“1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
Romans 2:1-4
“1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”
You are held for the measure you judge others, because you are showing your understanding of that sin.
God holds us to our understanding.
1 Corinthians 4:4-6 God’s timing
“4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
Again, only God knows the heart of man and his true motives, let the Lord judge them on judgment day.
6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.”
We have authority given us by God, do not go beyond this.
James 5:19-21
“19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
We are to judge one another in the body of Christ, correcting them from wondering from the truth, in doing so, we save them from death…
Spiritual death, and cover over a multitude of sins.
Judge what you are supposed to judge…the fruits of others to know what spirit they are, those within the Church, to know what kingdom they belong to.
And do not judge what you are not supposed to judge, a man’s heart, his salvation, and the sinners who do not belong to the body of Christ.
Luke 6:37, 38
“37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
This scripture and verse 41 that speaks of the splinter in your brother’s eye refer to judging not on Doctrine of God which must be judged, but rather one’s person and character.
Remember;
Matthew 7:15-20
15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing (looking like the good shepherd sheep or part of the body of Christ), but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
God created us to worship Him, and He is spirit, His word says
“Worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
We cannot worship God without a spirit.
We are not born with a spirit because of the fall, we are spiritually dead.
But when we come to Christ, the word says “He gives us life!”
Spiritual life through the Holy Spirit which dwells within us, filling that void the fall created and the devil wants to fill with evil.
Once we accept Christ as our Lord, and have the Holy Spirit, we can worship God who is spirit, and we are complete, because that void has been filled.
But if we do not have the Holy Spirit, there is a void within us.
A spiritual void, and we are incapable of worshipping God, in spirit or truth because we do not yet have the Truth.
Jesus says, “I am the truth, the way and the life.”
Like these women who were looking for the living Lord among the dead, this world is looking for life where there is only death.
Matthew 7:12-14
“13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Narrow and small because there is only one way…and that is through Jesus Christ.
Drugs, pornography, alcohol, smoking, tattoos, piercing, parties, sex, love, relationships, food, sweets, chocolate, etc…
But nothing will fill that void, but the Holy Spirit.
This world is looking for happiness, peace, joy, life… but they are looking among the dead.
But Christ has left us a map to find Him.
Just as the angels were there to tell these women the way to Jesus that Sunday morning, this Sunday morning I am here, a messenger of God to tell you;
Stop looking for life among the dead!
He is not there, but risen!
Remember the words of Christ and the disciples written in the word of God!
He has related to us in His word, just as He did the disciples with His words, how He would be killed in Jerusalem, and would rise from the dead, He had even told them how long He would be in the tomb.
Matthew 12:40
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
“8 And they remembered His words.”
Let us remember His words.
Let us recall what we read in His Holy Word.
Let us recall, what we learn in Sunday School, Bible Study and Sunday Service.
Let us recall when the Lord speaks to us.
Jesus’ 40 Days with us after His resurrection begins with a message.
HE IS ALIVE!
Over the next few Sermons, we will examine how Jesus shows Himself to be alive, we will discuss what He taught during this 40 Days, and how He prepared the disciples (and us) to continue receiving His Spirit, and how to operate in it, fulfilling the great commission given to us by the Lord.
CLOSING PRAYER
