Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Matthew chapter 27. We'll be reading that little
portion again that Brother Brian read. I had Brother Brian read
that portion to set the tone for what the message is all about. The name of the message is Christ
is Risen. And note in verses 62 and 64 what our dear brother
read there. Here's these Pharisees, these
religious Pharisees. What do they do? They come before
Pilate, and they ask that a guard be placed at the tomb of Christ,
because they remembered that Christ had said that he'd rise
again in three days. And look at the feeble attempts
of man. Here we go. The feeble attempts
of man. Now, the next day, the fall,
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees
came together under Pilate, saying, sir, we remember that this deceiver,
Christ never said a word. Christ never lied, he was sinless.
Everything he said was truth. But see, here's these men, they
don't want to lose their grip on power. They got some power
and they just, they don't want to, nothing's changed, has it?
Nothing's changed, beloved. And said, well, he was yet alive,
after three days I will rise again. Well, who's speaking that?
The God man. They didn't have no clue who
he was. No. So here they go. They go to the,
they go to Pied and they said, command that the sepulchre be
made sure. And that, that word secure there in the Greek is,
is, um, sure is secure. Make it secure. So that no one,
and they would set a seal on it so that they'd know if someone
broke the seal or went in or out. Right. until the third day, lest his
disciples come by night and steal him away." Well, they're afraid
his disciples are going to come take his body. So let's set this
watch of man. And these are Roman soldiers.
These are not mere soldiers. These are professional soldiers. These legionaries have been through
many battles. They're professional. They take
their job extremely serious. Extremely serious. Made sure
until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal
him away, and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead. Now they think the disciples
are going to deceive folks. They have no clue. So the last
error shall be worse than the first. Now, lest we be too hard
on these folks, we'd have been the same way before the Lord
saved us. Pilate said to them, you have
a watch. There's a group of men. Go. Make it as sure or as secure
as you can. Oh, so here they go. I see them
guys. Let's go! Right? They're just puffing out their
chest. Let's go. We're going to make this sure.
Oh, my. The feeble attempts of man. The
feeble attempts of man to thwart God. My, oh, my. And here we see the wicked devices
of men, don't we? the wicked devices of men. And
we're taught again that this is us in our natural state. This
is where we came from. Don't forget the rock we were
hewn from. And these men, they were unhappy religious men. You
know, religious people are never happy. I know, because I was
one of them. Never happy. Never happy at all. Always either something somebody
else is doing wrong or, well, never themselves, right? Oh, my. You know what the problem
is? They got their eyes on each other, and they don't have their
eyes on Christ. The preacher's got his eyes on
the congregation. The congregation's got their
eyes on one another. No one's looking to Christ. Oh, there's trouble there, isn't
there? And we can tell they're unhappy. Look in verse 63 again,
saying, sir, we remember that that deceiver said, well, he
was yet alive. After three days, I will rise
again. Again, Christ never sinned. He wasn't a deceiver. He only
told the truth. He went about doing good. My,
oh my. So men here thought that they
would stop the resurrection. He said, I'll rise again. Here's
man's attempt to thwart the resurrection. Well, we're going to get us a
guard of Roman soldiers. They're tough men. And they kill
anyone who come near that tomb. Hardened professional soldiers.
By the time we talked, you had mentioned that they were the
first professional soldiers of the Roman army. They were. They were strict discipline. They were, if you want to say
an excellent soldier, they were an excellent soldier. My, oh, my. And here they are. Pilate sends
them a guard of Roman soldiers to set a watch over the tomb.
And they made the sepulcher as secure as they could. But they really thought little
about what they were doing. You know what they were actually
doing? They were actually providing
the most the most complete truth of Christ's resurrection. There was a group of men who
were witnesses to an angel coming down from heaven. Oh my, they were making it impossible
to prove that there was any deception at all. Isn't that incredible? God was thwarting them. in using
their evil for his good and for his glory. All their precautions were to
become witnesses to the fact that Christ had risen from the
grave. And he did this. You know why?
Because the scripture says this in 1 Corinthians 3.19, for the
wisdom of the world is foolishness, for it is written, He take it
the wise in their own craftiness. That's what he's doing right
here. He's taking these guys who think they're so wise and
he's just turning the tables on them. And the church is full
of examples of similar kinds. Sometimes things look so bad
for the church and they're often turned out to be for the church's
good. Think of the persecution that
arose because of Stephen. What happened? What happened
after Stephen died and the Christians, what happened? They just fled
in different directions. What happened to the gospel?
It's like when you stomp in a fire, what happens? Sparks just fly
in every direction, don't they? See, the foot of persecution
fell and the believers just spread in all different directions.
with the gospel, all by God's purpose and plan. What harm did Paul's imprisonment
do? Now, he was probably uncomfortable, but what harm did it do? He wrote
several books of the Bible in prison. God took what man meant for evil
and used it for good, beloved, by his own divine hand. My, oh
my. Again, Persecution will always
cause us to draw close to Christ, always. Always cause us to draw
close to Christ. In time of our need, our greatest
need, we flee to Christ. And we do this when we've exhausted
our own efforts, which we all do, right? Then we look to Christ. God, give me grace to not exhaust
my efforts and just look to you in the first place. That's what
I need to learn. My, oh my. So we seek refuge during persecution
in Christ and we find comfort in the scriptures, don't we,
in times of persecution or times of suffering. So take courage.
Take courage by these things. A dear saint of old was in prison
for heresy and his body was thrown to a pack of wild dogs who ate
him completely. But what happened to his soul,
beloved? It was in the presence of the Lord. They can kill the
body, right? But they can't destroy the soul.
They can't destroy the soul. My, oh, my. And soon we'll see, we'll all
see the picture how God can make the wrath of man praise him,
Psalm 7610 says. And he does that. He did that
there, didn't he? He provided proof of the resurrection
by what those men did in their craftiness. He turned their evil into good. My, oh my. Now let's read Matthew
28. Let's read some 10 verses in
Matthew 28. Our Lord Jesus, he had died on
the cross. He really died. gave up the ghost,
gave up the ghost, and he was placed in a boiled tomb, tomb
of a rich man. He died and was buried, and here
we have set before us the resurrection of our great God and King, our
Savior. Do you know why death couldn't
hold Christ? He had no sin. Death can't hold the sinless
one. Can't hold him. He's perfect. He's sinless in his life, and
what? He's sinless in his death, isn't he? He's absolutely sinless. Look at this. The great resurrection
of the great savior of sinners. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to 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. Here's 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. And his countenance
was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And what happened
to those Roman soldiers, those professional soldiers, right,
who had faced many in battle, had saw the Gauls probably come
before them. And when them Gauls came before
those Roman soldiers, they were painted all up. Warriors running towards them. Well, they'd face them, but look what
happens when they see an angel. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and became as dead men. They couldn't move. They
were so terrified that they could not move. They couldn't move. We'd be the
same way. And the angel said unto the woman,
fear not ye. Look at that. Didn't say it to
the soldiers, but he said it to the woman. You know why? Because they're one of God's
sheep. Fear ye not. Fear ye not. Fear not ye, for I know that
ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He's not here. He's not here. No, he's risen. He's risen. As he said, come see the place
where the Lord lay. Now, you know, all these religions
in the world, you've got Islam, which has Muhammad, he's still
in a grave. China, in China, they, they have
Confucius and all that. He's still in the grave. Buddha. He's in the grave. All these man-made religions,
Mormonism, Smith's in the grave, right? There was a woman that
supposedly was buried. I can't remember what her name
was. She came up with some religion and she was buried with a telephone.
That telephone never rang. Right? Supposedly she's buried
with a telephone so she can talk to people after the grave. That
phone never rang. And she's dead still to this
day. I think it was Mary Baker someone.
Mary Baker Eddy, I think it was. She's still dead. Beloved, our
king who we follow, he's risen. The grave is empty. It's empty. He's risen. He went back home. He came down from heaven, didn't
he? He died and was buried, and now he's ascended back home,
back to glory. Oh, it's wonderful, because he's
the head and we're the body, right? Oh, he's gone. Look at that. He's not here,
for he's risen, as he said. Come see the place where the
Lord is. Wait, come and see. Not secret? Come on, go in and
see. No secret here. Go see the tomb. And go quickly and tell his disciples
that he's risen from the dead. Beloved, our Savior's risen. You know, you guys know I used
to be a Catholic, and you know they worship a Christ who's still
on the cross. They have him hanging on the
cross. That's not the real Christ. Christ is risen, beloved. He's
gone home. It's amazing. Remember in John
17? He said, he's praying that he'd
be with the Father again. Here it is. That prayer is fulfilled. He's risen. Go quickly and tell
his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he
goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him. Lo,
I have told you. You're going to see him again.
Well, what did they do? And they departed
quickly. They took off. There was smoke
falling on them. They're going to run. They want
to tell their brothers. Oh, my. And they wouldn't tell
the disciples. Look at this. Behold, Jesus met
them, saying, all hail. And they came and held him by
the feet and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, look
at this, be not afraid. That's what he tells every believer. Let that sink into our hearts.
Be not afraid. Beloved, be not afraid. Go tell
my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they
see me." And they did, didn't they? He appeared unto them.
So we have set here before us in this text the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of our great Savior,
beloved, the resurrection of the Savior of sinners. from the
grave, and all four writers describe minutely how our Lord was crucified
and very clearly how he rose again from the grave. And why
did he rise again from the grave? To show that God was satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. Scripture says he rose for what?
Our justification. Isn't that, that's good news.
That's wonderful news for sinners. That's the best news sinners
are ever going to hear. My oh my. This is so important because
the resurrection is the seal of the great important work that
Christ had done, which was to come to save us from our sins. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the crowning proof that he has paid the debt,
the sin debt that we owed. It's proof that he paid it, which
we owe to the law of God. Remember the handwriting of ordinance
that was against us? Oh, how long it was. He took
it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and that was
contrary to us. He took it out of the way, nailing
it to His cross. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Oh my. Crowning proof that Christ has
paid the sin debt for His people. He won the battle, beloved. He
accomplished the mission that He was sent to do. Scripture
says he shall not fail. He didn't fail. It's finished. Come see where
the Lord lay. He's not here. He's risen. He's risen. You know, if he rose not, then
how could we be sure that our ransom had been fully paid? We couldn't be sure then, could
we? We couldn't be sure. Had he never risen from the grave, then our conflict with our last
enemy would still occur. Do you know
he conquered all our enemies? Think of this. The law of God
was our enemy, wasn't it? Well, it had a claim on us. It
had a rightful claim on me. Oh, Wayne, the soul that sinneth,
it must die. You must die, Wayne, for your
sins. Well, I can't pay more. I can't
pay one sin. And put yourself in where my
name was there. The justice of God has a full
claim on us, right? God's justice must be satisfied. And I'll tell you why. God's
law and justice is either satisfied in the Savior or in the sinner. I praise God that the law and
justice to me was satisfied in the Savior and by the Savior. My, oh my. That was our enemy. The law and
justice of God were our enemy. And then he delivered us. Our
sins was a great enemy to us, weren't they? Still are, hey, in the flesh,
but they're bought and paid for. But our sins were a great enemy.
Can't pay for one of them. Christ paid for them all. Last enemy is death. Death's
our enemy. I used to be terrified of death
before the Lord saved me. I'll tell you, I was terrified.
I'm not afraid anymore. Now I know, I know we all tremble
and we're going to tremble at the hour of our death, but I'll
tell you what, God will give us dying grace. We don't need
it right now, but when we do, he'll give it to us. You ever
notice when you get something done, maybe you go in the hospital,
the peace that you have? Can't explain it, can you? Can't
explain it. OK, Lord. If I die while I'm
under the anesthetic, I'm going home to be with you. I have peace. You all know what
happened to me a few weeks back. I had peace. Out of peace, just,
okay, Lord. Can't explain it, but I had it.
My, oh, my. So we're to be patient, aren't
we, beloved? We're to be patient in these days of trouble, which
is all around us. But our Lord, he's overcome the
law, which was our enemy. He overcome the law of God. He's
overcome the justice of God. He's overcome the wrath of God.
That was against us too, wasn't it? Now, this is the part that
just... This is the part of the crucifixion
that just really... To think that... That which was due for my sins,
because I'm a sinner. Even now I'm saved, I'm a sinner,
but all before too, all my, the things I said, the things I've
done. And to think that that wrath
that was due me fell on Him. It was due me. What love. And the wrath that
he bore for you was due you, too. What love drove our Savior
to go to that cross. And I picture it like a soldier. Here we are, the Roman soldiers
used to have these big shields, and they'd hide behind these
shields. They'd go behind these shields. That's what it's like.
We're tucked in behind Him, and He's bearing it all, beloved.
All the wrath, all the beating to us, all the wrath of God just
beat upon Him, beloved. Think of the ark, right? The
wrath of God is pictured as the rain and the wind, and all that
just beat and battered the ark, didn't it? But not a drop of
rain fell upon those in the ark. And that's true of us, beloved.
I mean, He bore all that for us. What love He has for us. What love. My. And He overcame all that. He
overcame the law of God for us. He overcame the justice of God.
He overcame the The wrath of God. I remember
hearing one old preacher say that he extinguished, and you
hear me often say that, he extinguished the wrath of God. You know when
we extinguish a fire, there's still smoke? There wasn't even
smoke coming off this. He so extinguished the wrath
of God that there's no smoke, like there would be after a fire.
It's God, beloved, against us. Oh, what mercy. Oh, what love. And then he, now we see in our
text, he's overcoming our last enemy, death. Death has no more
sting for us, Paul wrote. We go from this life to the next,
for us, into great joy, unspeakable joy. I remember when a dear friend
of mine, a dear brother in Oregon, passed away. And it was so hard
on me. He's one of my right arms out
there, and just a dear fellow. He'd been saved out of Mormonism.
He was an older fellow in his 70s, and he'd been saved out
of Mormonism, and he found us, and he fellowshiped with us.
By the grace of God, he was led to us. He heard Don Fortner talking
about a church in Central Port, and boom, next thing you know,
he starts coming. He was with us for five years.
It was so wonderful. And, and I remember I, I, I,
I was just, I really missed him and I still do. I have a picture
of him in my study even today and just a dear brother. And
I remember Norm Wells telling me, brother, you wouldn't want
him coming back. You wouldn't want him coming
back as much as you miss him. And then he said, and then he
said something that made me chuckle. He goes, he ain't worried about
you, Wayne. God's saints up there ain't worried
about us. They're so consumed with Christ.
They're so enamored with Christ. And one day we who are the blood
washed saints of God are going to join, join our beloved brother
in who went before us. I think of Calvin in March. My brother Richard, sister Irene,
sister Denise. My, we're going to see him again
by the grace of God. Oh, it'll be, it'll be, Brother
Wayne, yeah. My, we're gonna, Brother Joel,
we're gonna see them again. We're gonna see, Brother Jim,
we're gonna see them face-to-face with our Savior. It'll be wonderful,
beloved. It'll be amazing. Absolutely
amazing. Turn, if you would, just quick
to Romans 4, but keep, keep your finger in Matthew 22. We're gonna
be going right back there. Look what it says here in Romans
4, verses 24 and 25, speaking of the Lord's death, and then
speaking of his resurrection. Romans 4, 24 and 25. Oh, death has no more sting.
Look at this, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if
we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Look at this. Who was delivered
for our offenses, so Christ was delivered for our offenses. He's
sinless, right? But he's delivered our offenses,
our sins. He's delivered, and think of
this. God the Father sent him to die for us. Sent him to die
for us. And he was delivered up by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, wasn't he? Yes, he was. And it says there,
delivered for our offenses, the sinless one, delivered for our
offenses. Oh, it doesn't end there, though.
Doesn't end there. That's good news enough, isn't
it? But look at this. And was raised again for our
justification. Oh, hallelujah, that we might
stand in the presence of God, beloved, clothed in the perfect,
spotless righteousness of Christ, and be looked upon by God just
as if we never sinned. My, what a miracle. What a miracle
of God's grace. Praise be to God. The Lord Jesus
Christ really did rise from the grave. And the scriptures tell
us that. And it says here, he rose for
our justification. That's good news. That is good
news for sinners. And Paul had a lively hope, right?
He was born again by the Holy Spirit into a lively hope. So
are we. Do you know we have a living
hope? See? As I said, all those religions,
you can trace them back to a man in a grave. We have a living
hope. He's risen. He's not here. He's not in the grave. He's risen. Where is he? At the right hand
of the Father. What's he doing? Interceding for you and I as
believers. There's one God and one mediator between God and
man, the man Christ Jesus. That's our Savior. That's our
Savior. My, in this wonderful truth,
that he's raised for our justification was proved by him rising from
the grave. My oh my. I'd like to consider
four points quickly from this text. The first point is the
glory and majesty with which the Lord Jesus Christ rose from
the dead. Look at verse two. And behold,
there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven, and came, and rolled back the stone door, and sat
upon it. Note, there was a great earthquake. And note also, the
angel of the Lord descended from heaven. Those soldiers, could
you imagine they're standing their guard, and all of a sudden, they'd been terrified. Remember,
one angel of the Lord, I was listening to it the other day,
and Sermon Donahue's preaching, destroyed 180,000 men. Could
you imagine being part of a great Syrian army? You go to bed, and
there's like 250,000 of you. You wake up the next day, 180,000
of you are dead. Oh, my. One angel did that. One. And here's this angel come
down. These men are terrified. They're
so afraid, they're like, They're like statues. Oh, our Lord, our Savior, God
in the flesh, he certainly, he did not need any help from any
angel, for it's certain that he would rise again. But it pleased
God that his resurrection would be followed by signs and wonders. And it seemed good that the earth
should shake, and a glorious angel appear when he rose. Remember,
his rise, and beloved, is the great conqueror of the enemies
of his people. He's conquered the law of God
for us. He's conquered the justice of
God for us. He's conquered our sins. And now he's conquering
death for us. Oh, my. Oh, it's wonderful, beloved. My, death couldn't hold him.
Death couldn't hold him. He's the sinless one. He's raised for our justification.
Grave couldn't hold him. And you know what? It couldn't
hold him beyond the appointed time. See, God had appointed
a time. Remember, he appointed a time for his birth? He appointed
a time for his death? And he's appointed a time for
his resurrection, hasn't he? God's appointed a time for our
birth, he did. We were born at the exact time that God ordained.
We're gonna die at the exact time that God ordains, and we're
gonna be in the glory and splendor of heaven at the exact time that
God ordains. Oh, Lord, give me, help my unbelief,
as Peter cried out, right? Oh, my. Oh, my. Glorious angel was witness
of his rising. And he rose with a renewed body,
beloved, body real and true and material, but a glorious body, which we
will have one day. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15, but again, keep your finger in Matthew chapter
28. Let us take comfort that during
this time of trial and sorrow and weariness of this world and
pain, Those things can often wear down this earthly tabernacle,
can't it? Sister, we were talking about
our bodies getting sore and stuff now, more so now that we're older,
right? It's true. These bodies, they wear down. We can't do what we used to do. And we often are in pain and
sometimes sorrow and weariness. But soon we'll be in glory with
our great King, beloved. Soon we'll have a glorified body.
So let us wait patiently. We'll have a glorious resurrection,
too. Oh, my. When we die, when we're buried,
you know, you often hear people say, don't weep for me. You know,
I know we do weep. We weep for one another because of the loss
that we feel. But remember, that's just a shell. The souls in glory. The souls in glory. But we do
weep for our loved ones. Oh, it's hard. It's hard. Look
at this in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 51 to 58. Behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep. But we
shall all be changed, he's speaking to believers here, in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, when it's all
over. See, this is a very, it's not a secret thing, is it? It's
a very public thing. Religion speaks of a secret rapture.
The coming of the Lord is very public. It is public, beloved. Look at this. At the last trump,
for the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Look
at that. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass, saying that that is
written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. Christ conquered both those things,
didn't he, for us. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. Look at that. My. Next point I'd like us to consider
from this text is the terror which Christ's enemies felt at
the time of his resurrection. Let's read Matthew 28 verses
2 to 4. And behold, there was a great
earthquake. And the angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon
it. So he didn't just descend down.
He came down and he rolled that stone away, that stone that had
been made secure by the Romans. He just rolled it away. It's
nothing. And then he sits on it. It's
not no little small stone. This is a great big huge stone.
He just sits on top of it. My oh my. And look at this, his
countenance was like a lightning and his raiment was white as
snow. And for fear of him, he didn't
even say a word to them. As far as we know, he didn't
even say a word. He just came down, he rolled that stone away,
and now he's just sitting on it. And here, these guys, like I
said, they're professional soldiers, beloved. Not much makes them afraid. Or
if they do get afraid, they just don't admit it a whole lot. Look
at this. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became
his dead man. These guys were used to dreadful
sights on the battlefield. They were seasoned soldiers. And they saw a sight, they saw
a sight which made their courage melt. When they saw this angel, their
courage just melted away. And they're standing there, they're
just, they can't move. You ever been so scared you couldn't
move? There it is. And this is the type of things
to come. What will the ungodly and wicked
do in the last day? What will they do when the trump
of God sounds? What will they do when they see
all the dead coming forth from the graves? What will they do when they're
assembled before the great throne of judgment and see Christ sitting
upon his throne? What will they do? Will they pop off like they do
now on earth? They're going to be just like
these soldiers, beloved. They're going to be just like
these soldiers here. never become as dead man, just
standing there. They won't be able to say a word. They'll be
silenced. What fears and terrors will possess them when they at
last meet the God who they denied, or the God who they cursed, or the God who they scoffed at?
What terrors shall behold them? Oh, that man might remember that
there is a resurrection and a judgment. And that there is such a thing
as the wrath of God. See, people don't talk a lot
about that anymore. We as believers know about the
wrath of God, don't we? Because it fell upon our Savior
and our place. See, it has to be satisfied.
And as I said, the old timers used to say, it'll be either
satisfied in the substitute, or it'll be satisfied in the
sinner. Oh, that's why we preachers say,
now's the accepted day. Now's the day of salvation. Flee
to Christ. There's no hope once you die.
There's no purgatory. That's just something man made
up to get more money. That's all that is. That's all
that is. My. Revelation says this, and the
kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the
chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every
free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains and said to the mountains, fall on us. Fall on us. This is how terrified they are.
Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the
throne and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of his wrath
has come, and who shall be able to stand? No one. And the only difference
between we who are the sheep of that great day when God divides
the sheep and the goats, notice who's doing the dividing? It's
God who's made us differ. Holy God. Holy God, beloved. Next, the third point I'd like
us to consider is the words of comfort which the angel addressed
to the friends of Christ. Let's read verses 5 to 8 of Matthew
chapter 28. And the angel has answered and
said unto the woman, fear ye not. Look at that. What beautiful
words. Fear ye not. Remember David with
Mephibosheth? Fear not, Mephibosheth. Fear not. I made a covenant with
your father before you were even born. God made a covenant, the
Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit before we were even born. Right? And because of that, we
hear these words, fear not ye. For I know that you seek Jesus,
which was crucified. He's not here. I know you come to see him, but
he's not here. He's risen. As he said, come and see the
place where the Lord lay, and then go quickly and tell his
disciples that he has risen from the dead. Behold, he goeth before
you into Galilee, and there shall you see him. Lo, I have told
you. And then they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear
and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples words. What
comforting words. Fear ye not. Let's take that
to heart, beloved, for us. God says to us in Christ, fear
ye not. You don't have anything to fear.
Now, we're in awe of his holiness, aren't we? We are. And we tremble
at who he is. But it's not fear, right? Scripture says the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And that happens to us, doesn't
it? And we are in awe of him. But
the fear is not a slavish fear. It's one of awe of who God is. He's the holy and the righteous
one. And these words of comfort fall from the lips of this angel
of fear. Fear you not. Oh, what comfort. So rejoice, beloved of God. The
Lord has put away our sins. He has put away our sins. They
are never to be remembered by God anymore. Now we remember
them, don't we? Sometimes they keep us awake.
But I'll tell you, when that happens, when those things happen, because
they happen to all of us, when we're reminded of the things
that we had done in the past, just lay them at the feet of
Christ. Lord, you bought this and paid for it. You bought it and paid for it,
Lord. I'm just going to trust in what
you've done. You paid for my sins. Right? We confess our sins still to
the Lord, don't we? My, but these, think of, think
of what these words did for these women. They're going to the tomb.
They're walking. I imagine if they're talking, they're, they're
going there. They were probably talking, oh, we're going to go, you know,
take care of the Lord's body. And they get there and there's
Roman soldiers frozen. like statues, because they haven't
went anywhere, have they? That angel's still there. They
ain't going nowhere. And then they see this angel. He's
sitting on top of this rock. I don't know if he had his arms
covered. He's just sitting on top of a rock. And this is a
big rock. And he says, fear ye not. I know you seek Christ, but he's
not here. He's risen. And you know what? If you don't
believe me, go and see yourself. Go look. Go look. Oh, my. But, oh. And you know, when we read these
words, we find that we really have no cause for alarm, no matter
what will come against us in this world. Remember Wednesday
night, we looked at Jesus prayed for me? Jesus prayed for us? John 17 says the Lord prayed
for his people. God, the God-man prayed. Each
believer can say the God-man prayed for me. Why should I fear the things
that come in this world if Christ prayed for me? Now, I know we
still do. I'm not at all saying that we
won't do that, because we do. I'm telling you that now when
that comes about for me, I'm like, Lord, you prayed for me. Why am I, you know, David said,
and listen to the words of David. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? So people who say that
believers don't get anxious and don't get depressed, they don't
even know what they're talking about. Here's David. Here's David
saying, right, why is my soul disquieted in me? And then he
says, hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of
his countenance. He reminds himself, soul, hope
in God, hope in God. So we should remind ourselves,
soul, Jesus prayed for you. We all talk to ourselves, so
I'm not saying anything new there, right? But no, really, we should,
though, shouldn't we? Soul, Christ prayed for me. And
David was talking within himself when he said that. Why art thou
disquieted in me? Hope thou in God. My. This is why we need to keep our
eyes on Christ and not on the things going on in the world. And the Lord shall come back.
He will come up. He's going to come back. And
you know what? This whole world is going to
burn up. And there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. My, oh, my. I remember telling
my daughter, she's talking to me about the planet and all that.
being a good steward. And I said, yeah, we should be
good stewards. I said, but it's all going to burn up, honey.
And it will. It will. This is God's world. He can do with this world whatever
he pleases. Now, this old world's sin-cursed,
isn't it? But there's going to be a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Isn't that amazing
when you think about that? Oh, I can't even answer that.
The scripture says that, but it just makes my brain fizz.
But it's true. I believe it, because God says
it, right? So praise be to God. Our Savior,
our Savior, our Savior has paid everything that God demanded
for our souls. There's no more judgment for
God's people, because our judgment fell upon Christ. So rejoice,
my dear brother, in the resurrection of Christ. And do not be afraid
of what's to come, because it's God who will keep us from falling.
and he will one day present us, Christ is gonna one day present
us before the throne of God, faultless and without blame.
Faultless and without blame. But I got so much sin, I'm still
a sinner, I know what I did in the past, and oh my goodness,
faultless. Blameless. See, this is what
gets believers excited, isn't it? The fact that Christ loved
me so much that he died for my sins, that he paid it all. I'm such an undeserving worm.
And yet he went. There he goes to the cross. Henry
Mahan used to say, I like this analogy. And I know we don't
like maggots, right? Nobody likes maggots. But he
said, God reached down the dunghill of this world and said, that
maggot's mine. That maggot's mine. Saved by grace. Isn't that wonderful? I don't mind people calling me
a maggot, because I'm a saved maggot. Right? I am. My goodness. I'll tell you what. And the Lord's words will be
filled one day. Listen to this. And when these
things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your
heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. Our redemption draweth nigh,
beloved. And then the wicked will see, blessed is the nation
whose God is the Lord and the people with whom he has chosen
for his inheritance. They'll see that, because here
we will be the sheep of God by nothing we've done. My goodness,
ushered into eternity with Christ. And let us consider the fourth
and last point. I know I went long today, I'm sorry. The fourth
and last point, the gracious message which the Lord sent the
disciples after his resurrection. Look what he says here in verses
8 to 10. And they departed quickly from
the sepulcher. with fear and great joy, and
did run to bring his disciples word. I like this, how the Lord
stops them. Look at this. And as they went
to tell the disciples, behold, Jesus met them. There's the Lord. Oh, what love flooded into their
souls at the appearance of Christ. He's risen. He's right now. He's before us. He's alive. He's alive. And look, they did
what all of us would do. And they came and held him by
their feet and worshiped him. I imagine they were crying. Oh,
Lord, you're alive. You're alive. Then said Jesus unto them, be
not afraid. Oh, they're sinners. Be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they
go into Galilee and there shall they see me. He appeared to the
women first and he gave them these glad tidings to carry to
the disciples. Go tell my brethren. And these
men, his brethren were weak and frail and errant and he called,
remember Peter, Peter denied him three times. Go tell my brethren. Thomas, we know Thomas gonna
doubt him. Go tell my brethren. See, our salvation is not dependent
upon us, is it? It's dependent upon Christ. Oh,
what comfort we see here. He comforts them. And they have
yielded to the fear of man, which all of us would have. And yet
he still calls them brethren. Go tell my brethren. Oh, my. So let we who are the
redeemed of the Lord take comfort with these two words, my brother, and may we trust him and not
be afraid. Our Savior pities our infirmities, beloved. He
is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He knows. He knows
our infirmities. He knows our weakness. And let
us never forget, as we see here, that our great high priest is
our elder brother. He's our elder brother. So rejoice,
you who are the people of God. We who are the people of God.
Let's lift up Christ in our hearts. He's risen. He's not dead. He's alive. The one you seek
is no longer here. He's risen. There's an empty
tomb. And you know what? You got Roman
statues that are witnesses to that, right? They won't be statues
for long, because once the angel leaves, I imagine they came. But notice the people of God
weren't terrified.