The Friends And Family Of God

THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF JESUS

Introduction

A. “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.”

B. That is not true of one family—God’s family (Matt 12:46-50).

C. But we can choose God’s family only because of his previous choice (Matt 12:17-19; 2 Thess 2:13-14;

Gal 3:26-29).

D. God’s choice was a costly one (Heb 2:10-15).

E. We are going to join the family and friends of Jesus on the darkest day in history (Matt 27:45).

I. THE DARKEST DAY IN HISTORY

A. We have probably lived through some dark hours as we waited for a friend of family member to die, but our

friend or family member was not being executed for crimes others committed (Heb 2:9)

B. They laid Jesus in the tomb and then waited (John 19:38-42)

C. The hour was even darker than they realized (1 Cor 15:12-19) .

TRANSITION: The darkest day in the history of the human race was about to give way to the brightest day in history, but the disciples waited in sorrow.

II. THE BRIGHTEST DAY IN HISTORY

A. Before the darkness of night gave way to the morning, some of the disciples made their way to the tomb of

Jesus, intending to give him a proper burial.

B. The absence of Jesus’ body brought no joy, but only increased their sorrow and feelings of helplessness

(John 20:1-2; 11-15).

C. The fascinating thing about this is that Jesus’ enemies remember what his disciples had forgotten (Matt

27:62-66).

TRANSITION: “An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives”—or does it?

III. POOFS OF JESUS' RESURRECTION

A. The first piece of evidence that Jesus lives is the empty tomb.

1. The door was too heavy for a man awakening from a “swoon” to move—for that matter it was too heavy

for any one man to move, no matter his physical condition.

2. If the disciples moved it, they did so without the knowledge of the women, Peter, and John.

3. It was in the best interest of his enemies for the body to be in the tomb.

C. The second witness is the grave clothes. Transformed by the resurrection, Jesus had passed through the

grave clothes, as he would later pass through closed doors (John 20:26).

1. This may produce a question: Why did the stone have to be rolled away if he could pass through

material objects?

2. The stone was rolled way so the disciples could get in, not so Jesus could get out!

D. The third evidence is his appearance. If we were to concede that Mary, in her distress, was hallucinating, we

must deal with his multiple appearances on numerous occasions with up to 500 witnesses (1 Cor 15:6)

Conclusion

A. Dear friend, if you are not part of God’s family, you can choose to be his son or daughter this day.

B. Jesus died on the cross, was laid in a tomb, and was resurrected; we must die with him, be buried with him,

and rise with him (Rom 6:1ff).