Okay. Open your Bibles, if you
would, to Matthew chapter 27. We'll read verses 62 to 66, where
we see that the chief priests and the Pharisees came before
Pilate and asked the guard be placed at the tomb of Christ,
because they remembered that Christ said after three days
he would rise. Now here is a religious man trying
to do their best to prevent God working. And what happens when
those two things come together? It's fruitless, isn't it? Let's
stand up and read Matthew 27 together, verses 62 to 66. Let's stand up and read those
together. Now the next day that followed,
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came
together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember what that deceiver
said. Well, he was yet alive. After
three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the
sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples
come by night and steal him away, and saying to the people, he
is risen from the dead, so that the last error shall be worse
than the first. Pilate said to them, you have
a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went
and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting
a watch. My oh my. So they had a watch
of soldiers, which they were given soldiers. They would be
Roman soldiers because they went to pilot and asked for a watch. Roman soldiers, if anyone escaped
under their watch, it would be instant death. If they fell asleep on their
watch, it would be instant death. They showed no mercy. So these
are professional soldiers guarding the tomb of Jesus. And it says
they made it sure they sealed it with a seal. And we see here the wicked devices
of man. But notice we're gonna see that
God can make the wicked devices of man praise him. just like
we've seen in our book of Acts study, right? They persecute
Paul and Silas, they do this and that, they move to another
city, they preach the gospel, and the Lord draws in more of
his lost sheep. It's absolutely amazing. So even the wrath of
man praises our great God, because he's absolutely sovereign. So
we see the conduct of the priests and the Pharisees after Christ
was buried, and they're unhappy still. They've crucified the
Prince of Life, and they're still unhappy. You'd think that'd be
enough, and they're still unhappy. It reminds me of, I think it
was Wycliffe, the Catholics burned him at the stake, buried his
bones, and then dug up his bones and burned them to ashes so no
one could get him. He's dead. But the hatred and the veminence
that they had for that preacher of the gospel, well, our Lord
said, marvel not if they hate you, they hated me first. Without
a cause, right? Without a cause. But they remembered them saying
that he would rise again, verse 63 there. So they thought, we're
gonna make that impossible. Now they don't know who he is,
do they? It's obvious they don't have any clue who he is. They
think he's just a man. They don't know he's God in the
flesh. And they don't know that he must
be raised for our justification. You know that? If he doesn't
raise from the grave, we're not justified. Oh, my. But the scripture declares
that Christ was raised for our justification. We're accepted
in him. And where he is, we're going
to soon be. So men thought, oh, we'll stop
this. We're stopped this resurrection thing he's talking about. Man, it's like kicking dust out
of a tornado, isn't it? It doesn't do anything. It doesn't
do anything. So we're taught they didn't really
know who Christ was. They went to Pilate, they obtained
a guard, they sealed the sepulcher. Now, They thought. Because what they were thinking
was they were thinking that the apostles and the followers of
Christ were going to go and take the body from the sepulcher. They didn't know that Christ
was going to raise from the dead. And he didn't need anyone else
around. Because they didn't know who he was. They thought he was just a man. Just a man. But he wasn't just
a man, was he? He's the second person of the
Trinity. He's God in the flesh. And he died for us, beloved.
He must die. And he must be raised from the
dead. He must be. He came and lived
that perfect life, did no harm to anyone, no sin, perfect. Pilate said, I don't find any
fault in Him. He's sinless, and He's living
a perfect life. Every believer can say for me, He was wounded for my transgressions.
He was bruised for my, and it was my sin. And the chastisement, oh my. But his stripes were healed. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. So he's went to the cross. He
shed his precious blood, gave his life, now he's lying in the
tomb. And really what we see here is
they thought very little of him. But they are actually going to
give, here's the wrath of man praising God. They're actually
going to provide the most complete evidence of the truth of Christ's
coming resurrection. because they were making it impossible
to prove that there was any deception. Ever think of that? They sealed
that thing right up, they set a Roman guard there, and I'll
tell you what, back in those days, you wouldn't wanna go near
those Roman guards. You get close to that sepulcher,
they're gonna be liable to put a spear in you. They took what
they did very seriously. It would cost them their lives if they failed. So we see here with these men
trying to seal up the sepulcher, we see how man thinks he's smarter than
God. But the wisdom of God and the
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. God's far more wise
than this world. Scripture says, he taketh the
wise in their own craftiness. See, they connive this plan.
And he's gonna take them in their own craftiness. That's in 1 Corinthians
3.19. The history of the church is
full of examples of a similar kind. Sometimes
things look so bad for the church, and then they often turned out
for the good. You think of the Inquisitions.
You know, you ask most Catholics, they don't even know what the
Inquisitions are. They slaughtered millions of
born-again blood-washed people, thinking they were doing right
for God. But as they did that, the gospel
spread like wildfire, beloved. Spread like wildfire. When persecution arose because
of Stephen in Acts 8.12, What happened? The church spread
like wildfire. They went off into all different
directions. What harm did the imprisonment
that Paul went through go through? He wrote multiple books of the
Bible that we rejoice in today. What harm does persecution do
to the people of God today? It always drives us closer to
Christ. Always. Trials, persecutions
always drive us closer to Christ. They show us our inability to
fix things. I have no ability to save my
soul. I have no ability to save anyone
else's soul. But I preach the one who saved
my soul. And I preach the one who saves all who come to him.
And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 28. Let's read about our Lord's resurrection. Let us take courage. God was with the saints of old,
wasn't he? He's with us. He's with us. Let us be patient
in days of darkness. Let us take comfort that the
very things which seem to be against us are for us. We who
are in Christ, working together for our good and for God's glory,
even when we don't understand them. Look at this in Matthew chapter
28, verses 1 to 10. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to be dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold,
there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. Now I don't believe angels had
a bunch of wings and all that. I believe they appeared as men
in scripture. And the reason I use that context,
now there's some, the seraphims and the cherubims, they're a
whole nother, they're a whole nother. But note the ones that
appeared when Christ appeared with two angels to Abraham, they
appeared as men. When Christ appeared to Joshua,
he appeared as a man. That's all pre-incarnate appearances
of Christ called Christophanies. But when you see angels appearing
to men, they just look like men. So here's this fellow sitting
on a stone. Not just any fella. The angel
of the Lord. Oh my. Look at this. His countenance was like lightning. Last night, there was lightning
all over, just lit the sky up. My. And his remnant, white as
snow. I love that first snowfall in
the winter, don't you? Or when we get a big storm and
before anybody walks on it, or even the animals, and it's just
so beautiful white. Whiter than that, his raiment
was. Look at this. Now here, what
are them brave soldiers doing? The ones who will storm in battle. Like, I mean, these guys were,
They were elite Roman soldiers. They were the Navy Seals of their
day. And look what's happened to these
fellas. And for fear of him, of the angel of the Lord, the
keepers did shake and became as dead men. They were so terrified. They quaked and became as dead
men. And the angel said unto the woman,
notice he didn't address the soldiers, right? He addresses
God's people. Oh, there's a little nugget in
there, beloved. Look at this. And the angel answered and said
unto the woman, fear ye not. What does God say to us in Christ?
Amen, sister. Fear ye not, fear not. Your sins
are all forgiven. Remember Mephibosheth with David? David was a type of God the Father. Mephibosheth, he's like us, I'm
such a dead dog. You can kill me if you want.
And he says, fear not. Because he'd made a covenant
with Jonathan, hadn't he? Before Mephibosheth was even
born, God the Father and the Son made a covenant. before we were even born. And we were chosen in Christ,
who's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, so that
now God says to his people, fear not. And look at this, look what
the angel of the Lord says here. Fear not ye, for I know that
ye seek Jesus. God's people seek Christ, don't
we? We seek Christ. Did she seek Jesus, which was
crucified? Look at this answer. He's not here. He didn't give
him some long, drawn-out expression about how he rose from the grave
and did all this and how it all occurred. He just said, he's
not here. It's kind of like when I was a kid and I'd be out somewhere
and one of my friends come home and they'd come to my house and
they'd knock on my door and my mom would answer, oh, Wayne's
not here. He's down the street. Right? Same thing. He's not here.
He's just not here. He's not here. Why? For he is
risen. Oh, he's risen indeed, hasn't
he? Oh my! He's raised for our justification,
beloved. And then he says, come and see
the place where the Lord laid. Come and see. And go quietly
and tell his disciples that he's risen. That's wonderful news,
isn't it? Christ was risen. So if Christ
is risen, then I'm justified. And if you're trusting Christ,
then you're justified. Isn't that wonderful? And go quickly and tell his disciples
that he's risen from the dead. Behold, he goeth before you into
Galilee. There shall you see him, lo, I have told you. And
they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great
joy. Fear and joy mixed together.
Oh my. And did run to bring his disciples
word. Now, can you imagine that? They probably walked to the sepulcher,
heads down maybe. And now they're running. They're running back to the disciples.
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met
them saying, all hail. And they came and held him by
the feet and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be
not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they
go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Wonderful words. Be not afraid, our king says
to his people. Be not afraid. Oh, it's wonderful. And notice he didn't appear to
the guards, but he appeared to his people, didn't he? The angel
of the Lord didn't speak to the guards, but he spoke to his Christ's
people. Oh, my beloved. So we have set
here before us the wonderful resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ from the dead. This is the crowning proof that
he paid the debt for our sins, for the sins of all his people,
all the elect of all the ages that we owe to the law of God.
that we owed, paid in full. He won the battle. He crushed
Satan. He is the great victor. My, he won the battle. He delivered
us from all our sins. He delivered us from hell. He
delivered us from the wrath of God. He delivered me from myself. Because we're our own worst enemies,
aren't we? praise his mighty name. He's risen! He's risen! Oh my — he's overcome death! He's
overcome Satan! He's overcome our sins. All of them. for all who just
trust in Christ. You know, I had someone ask me,
what does it mean to believe in Jesus? What does it mean?
You say, you must be born again. What does that mean? Let me tell you this. God, the Holy Spirit, shows us
our need. And we see that we can't save
ourselves. And he lovingly draws us to Christ. Lovingly with cords of love. People say, well, I can't tell
if I'm born again. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Is he everything to you? Because those who aren't born
again don't believe on Him. Don't rest in Him. That's why you hear me say, look
to Christ and live. Just look to Him. And if you're
looking to Him, it's because God's given you faith to look
to Him. Isn't that wonderful? People say, it can't be that
simple. Yeah, it can be. Because salvation's of the Lord,
not of our doing. See, we've been programmed for
all these years, and even from birth, that we gotta do something
to be saved. And then when God saves us, we
find out we can't save ourselves. And he shows us Christ. And by
God-given faith, which we've received, by the regenerating power of
God, the Holy Spirit, we believe. All I can tell you is, is I lived
a life, a crazy life of recklessness. And here I am now in church,
loving Christ, right? I have the privilege of preaching
the gospel, but I'm still just a sinner saved by grace. And
it's absolutely wonderful. And I'm looking to Christ by
God-given faith that I didn't have before the Lord saved me. And now I can say, praise God,
he's risen. He was wounded from my transgressions.
He was bruised from my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace
was upon him. What a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Is that not your cry, beloved,
too? Is that not our confession? Christ saved my soul. Praise
His mighty name. He's overcome our sins. That
was against us. He paid the price for all our
sins. He overcame His own law, fulfilling
it perfectly in our room and place. And I marvel at this. I marvel
at this. that the wrath of God that was
so against me because of my sins is extinguished, is gone. So much so, Brother Brian, that
our Lord tells us, your sins and iniquities are remembered
no more. And we say, hallelujah, don't we? We say, praise the
Lord for his goodness and his mercy. That's why we say, he's
risen. He's risen. Oh, what a Savior. He's overcome
the wrath of God that was due me, and due you if you're a believer,
and He's extinguished it. Because the wrath of God fell
on Him in our room and place. And you know what? When He was
raised from the dead, it shows that God is satisfied with His
sacrifice. We can't do anything to save
ourselves, can we? But Christ, the perfect sinless
one, dies in the room and place of sinners. It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. And then he's gonna overcome
the last enemy we have, isn't he? He already has. We saw it in our text. He overcame
death. Death has no sting for the believer
anymore. I had a guy, I was talking, I
was telling Vicki this. I had a fellow this week, or no, last
week. I was talking to him with a group
of other guys, and he said, he's like, well, no one wants to die. And I said, well, the believer, we actually look forward to being
in heaven. He says, yeah, but you don't
want to die right now, do you? And I said, well, if the Lord
takes me home, I'm fine with that. I said, I don't have to
worry about this world anymore, right? And he said, come on,
what are you talking about? And I said, well, what's concerning
for most of us is the vehicle that he's gonna take us out of. For me, I think it's probably
gonna be my diabetes or a heart attack. One or the other, probably. But I can't worry about it, I
can't sit up at night going, oh, am I gonna have a heart attack?
I can't worry about that. I live my life each day as it comes.
trusting and resting in him. My soul's in his hands, right? And he says, so you're ready
to die right now? And I said, yeah. And he has
a concealed weapon. And he goes, are you sure? He wasn't threatening
me. He wasn't threatening me. Don't
think he was threatening me. And I said, sure. That's how
it is. That's how it's supposed to be.
Sure. And he went, oh, I would never do that. But it's true,
right? Are we ready to go home? Sister,
you said one time, God uses trials and tribulations to wean us from
this world. And it's so true. Now we have
an attachment with our family, but I'll tell you what, everything
here is just temporary, beloved. Me, my children, the world, our
friends, our family, we love them dearly. Don't get me wrong,
I'm not negating any of that. But ultimately, our citizenship
is in heaven. That's our home. That's our home, isn't it? My,
oh, my. Look at this here in Matthew
chapter 28, verse 2. I'd like to consider here the
glory and majesty with which Christ arose from the dead. It's
such a magnification of God's sovereign power. My, oh, my. And behold, there
was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat
upon it. Note, there was a great earthquake,
and also the Lord descended, the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven, sent by God the Father. Now our Lord and Savior, God
in the flesh, He certainly didn't need the help of any angel, did
he? No. It's certain that he would rise
again. He said, I'm going to rise again in three days. So
it's certain. No man's going to stop it. It's
going to happen. And it seemed good that the earth
should shake and a glorious angel appear when he arose as the great
conqueror over the enemies of his people. What comfort we can
find here as believers. What comfort we can find in his
resurrection. He's risen for our justification. To show that God is absolutely
satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ, and Brother Brian
would never come into condemnation because of Christ's work. Oh
man, that'll make a sinner shout for, shout to glory, won't it?
Give God all the glory and honor and praise. This glorious angel
was a witness of Christ's rising. And Christ rose with a renewed
body, yet a very real body as we see him appear to our dear
sisters later on. Material body, new body. And
so shall we. So shall we have a new body. So let us take comfort in this
trials and tribulations of this world, the weariness of this
world, the pain that we go through. It'll pass. And we'll never have
any of that again when we're in glory with Christ. Turn, if
you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Paul brings this forth so clearly
here by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. This is amazing. 1 Corinthians 15. Let us wait patiently. Wherever
glorious resurrection, beloved, when we die, and where we are
buried, and what kind of funeral we have, matters little. As the
great question is, how shall we rise again? Look at this 1st Corinthians
15 verses 51 to 58 behold I show you a mystery We shall not all sleep That's
what they used to call death But we shall all be changed now. He's writing the born-again blood-washed
believers, right? Every one of us will be changed In a moment in the twinkling
of an eye at the last Trump I This is when the Lord comes back at
his second coming. For the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. So anyone
left alive at Christ's second coming who's a believer, change
just like that. The dead will rise first, and
then we'll be changed, just like in the twinkling of an eye. All
this is gonna happen in the twinkling of an eye, just so fast. And there's no secret rapture
in seven years in between and all this. This is the end. This is it. For this corruptible, Paul's
speaking of his body, we can say the same thing, this corruptible
must put on in corruption. which is the new body. And this
mortal, look at this, must put on immortality. Isn't that amazing? So those who've gone before us
in Christ, the corruptible, their bodies
now put on incorruption. Oh, my. Verse 54. So when this
corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on
immortality, then shall be bought the past the same. Death is swallowed
up in victory. That's Christ's victory. Oh,
death, where is thy sting? Death's just a doorway to glory. Like that fellow said, okay,
let me see. It's a doorway. It's a doorway to glory, beloved.
We just don't know the vehicle of how we're gonna get there. We just don't know. Look at this. O grave, where
is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. Sin leads to death. Spiritual
death and physical death. And the strength of sin is the
law. The law condemns. There's no hope in the law. But
there's hope for sinners in Christ. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's our hope.
We have victory through Christ. He's the conqueror. He's the
mighty conqueror. He conquered our sin. He conquered
the law of God. He conquered the wrath of God
in our room and place. He conquered ourselves. Oh, it's wonderful. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast and always abounding in the work
of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. Just keep living your life for
Christ. wonderful. The second point I'd like us
to consider of this text that we read, we'll look at verses
2 to 4 of Matthew 28, is the terror which Christ's enemies
felt at the period of his resurrection. Now these were hardened soldiers,
hardened soldiers, and look at the terror they feel. Matthew
28 verses 2 to 4, and behold there was a great earthquake,
For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and rolled
back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance
was like lightning and his remnant white as snow. And for fear of
him, they're terrified. They're terrified of this angel.
For fear of him, the keepers did shake and became his dead
man. Again, these are professional soldiers. They're used to seeing
dreadful sights on the battlefield. They're used to participating
in dreadful acts. They're used to seeing carnage. But that angel made their courage
melt like wax. Melt like wax. And think of this,
that was at the appearance of one angel. Just one. Oh my. This is a type of things to come.
What will the ungodly do and the wicked do in the last day
when the trump shall sound and Christ shall come in glory to
judge of the world? What will they do when they see
the dead coming forth in their graves and assemble themselves
around the great white throne? What fears and terrors will possess
them when they must at last meet God Almighty face to face? And the one sitting upon that
throne is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that man would remember that
there is a resurrection and a judgment, and that there is such a thing
as the wrath of the Lamb. And the kings of the earth, and
the great men, and the rich, and the cheap captains, and mighty
men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the
dens and the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and
rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." That's Christ. Remember, He's God. They're talking
about God's wrath there. For the great day of his wrath
is come, and who shall be able to stand? Only those in Christ, because
our wrath fell upon him. Praise God he's risen, beloved. Praise God he's risen. Now let's consider the words
of comfort, which the angel addressed to the friends of Christ. Look
at verses 5 to 8, Matthew 28. And the angel answered and said
unto the woman, Fear not ye, for I know that you seek Jesus,
which was crucified. He's not here. He's risen. As he said, Come, see the place
where the Lord lay. and go quickly and tell his disciples
that he's risen from the dead. Behold, he goeth before you into
Galilee. There shall you see him, lo,
I have told you. And they departed quickly from
the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his
disciples word. They took right off. They wanted
to share this wonderful news. Christ is risen. He's risen. Oh my. So rejoice, beloved, as
what we see here is that, again, God is satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ in our room and place. And he's risen. If God wasn't satisfied with
his sacrifice, Christ never would have risen. But this is proof
for us what comfort we can have, what comfort we can glean from
these words. Oh my, he rose for me. If you're
a believer, he rose for you. Let these wonderful words cheer
your soul. And these words of cheer, they've
warmed believers' souls for years. For years. And they remind us, too, that,
Brother Brian, we've talked about this before, that Christians
have no cause for alarm, whatever may come on in this world. We
just trust Him. We know things are gonna come. We know trials are coming. We
know persecution's coming. Persecution comes in a thousand
different faces, and so do trials. But never forget, They're sent
by God to wean us from this world, to teach us the things of Christ,
to drive us to Christ, where what happens? We become even
more enamored with Him. We fall in love with Him even
more. What a Savior, what a Redeemer. And this is hope for us. The
Lord, He's coming back. He's going to appear in the clouds.
He's coming. There's no doubt about it. The earth shall be
burned up. The graves of the wicked and
the graves of the just shall give up their dead. Judgment is set and sure. The books shall be opened. The
angels will sift the wheat from the chaff and divide the sheep
from the goats. But believers do not fear the
judgment of God anymore. Our sins have been judged at
Calvary. We've been redeemed by the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, our Passover Lamb. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord does not impute sin. It's wonderful. Praise God, our Savior paid all
our sins. All that God demanded in payment
for our souls is paid in full. So rejoice, beloved of God. Rejoice
in the resurrection of Christ. He's raised for our justification.
And don't be afraid of what's to come. I know I'm preaching
to myself, too. Let us not be afraid of what's to come. Charlie was telling me this morning,
he said, you know, I woke up this morning and heard some birds
chirping, and he said, it really struck me, what you've been preaching
to me all these years, that God is in full control. I said, amen, brother. He's in
absolute control. And all things are working truly
for our good and for His glory. We don't see it all the time
that way, but it is. And we can have confidence that
that's happening. We can't see it when the basement
floods, or pipes break, right? No, we can't. We're like, what's
going on? Then it works out for good. Jill and Luke's basement got
flooded, the Kirkpatrick's pipes broke, and now y'all getting
new stuff. Isn't it amazing? Oh my. But at the time, it's like, oh
my gosh, what's happening? But our king's in control, beloved.
Our king's in control. And the Lord's will will be fulfilled. And when you. And when these
things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads
for your redemption draws nigh. Let us keep looking to Christ.
Let us keep looking up to our great king. And let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord look at these wonderful words that we've read and be
not afraid. Our Savior pities our infirmities,
and he loves us so much with an everlasting love that he left
heaven to save us from our sins. To die a cruel death, a painful
death, but praise be to God, he's risen. He's risen. So rejoice, we who are the people
of God. Christ is risen up from the grave,
he rose. We're going to sing that song
now. Praise God, he rose. My, oh my, what a wonderful Savior.
Brother Jim, would you close us in prayer?