Let's read together Mark chapter
16 verses 1 through 8. Mark 16 verse 1. When the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Solomon had bought
sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very
early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto
the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among
themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door
of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw
that the stone was rolled away. for it was very great. And entering
into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right
side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he said unto them, Be not
affrighted, don't be afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He is this. He is not here. behold the place where they laid
him. But go your way, tell his disciples
and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall
you see him as he said unto you.' And they went out quickly and
fled from the sepulcher, for they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to
any man, for they were afraid. Now this paragraph of scripture
is just bursting with rich gospel truth and practical, practical
lessons. So let's forego any introductory
comment and just hold your Bibles open on your laps and let me
show you six or seven things plainly taught us in these verses
of scripture. The first thing to be learned
is what is stated in the opening sentence of the chapter. The
Sabbath is now past. The Sabbath is now past. I say that with all the emphasis
that I can, and I have chosen to say it from this particular
text of scripture, because I am convinced that is the intent
of this opening sentence. And when the Sabbath was past,
but pastor, you surely know that it's talking about the end of
the Jewish Sabbath, so that on Saturday, when it was over at
midnight, as it began to dawn toward Sunday, they're talking
about these women coming to the tomb of the Lord Jesus on that
first day of the week. I'm pretty much aware of that.
I'm pretty much aware of that. But I know that it was no accident
that our Lord Jesus was crucified on Saturday. or on Friday rather,
and that he was buried in the tomb for three days and three
nights, and rose again on early Sunday morning, the first day
of the week. And it was intended and is written
in the scriptures to teach us specifically that the resurrection
of Christ from the dead, declares the Old Testament law of the
Sabbath, is now past. And the day of grace has dawned
in its wholeness. Turn back to Matthew 28. Matthew
chapter 28 in verse 1. This is a very remarkable verse
of scripture. Matthew's saying the very same
thing Mark is, but he states it slightly more clearly. I wish
every one of you could read this particular verse in its original
language. Listen carefully, I'll give you
the sentence as Matthew gives it in our English translation,
then I'll tell you exactly what he's saying. In the end of the
Sabbath, isn't that interesting? In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, quite literally,
in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the Sabbath,
the very same word is used, came Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary to see the sepulcher. Now this is what the verse reads
like. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the Sabbath. And I take that to mean this.
When the Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary and rose again, the
old Sabbath was ended forever and the new Sabbath began. We
do not observe any legal Sabbath day, not Saturday as the Jews
and the Seventh-day Baptists and the Seventh-day Adventists
and others do. nor do we observe a Sunday Sabbath as many Reformed
folks would teach us we must do. We observe no legal Sabbath
day in any sense whatsoever because the scriptures strictly forbid
us from doing so. I don't mean this is an optional
thing. I don't mean you can observe this day if you want to. Some
folks say, well, this falls under the category of what Paul says
in Romans 14 about some observing the day to the Lord and others
observing it not. No, we are now past that transitional period.
What the scriptures teach us is that we who worship God in
Christ must not observe any legal ceremony of any kind. We must
not. We must not. This is what Paul
says, that no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or
in respect to an holy day, or of a new moon, or the Sabbath
days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ. I would no more keep a Sabbath
day than I would practice circumcision, sacrifice a Passover lamb, or
go to a priest at an earthly altar and call it worshiping
God. We do not live under the law. Christ has redeemed us from
the law. We are dead to the law by the
body of Christ. The language of the New Testament
is so crystal clear That error in this regard is inexcusable. This is what the Word of God
says. Christ is the end of the law. Christ is the, folks keep
telling me, but there's some sense in which we're under the
law. There's some sense in which we, we just can't say that. I wish
somebody found me one place, anywhere in the New Testament,
just one place, just one place, where any apostle of our Lord
or our Lord himself commands any believer in this gospel age
to live under the law. in trouble of some sense, find
me the sense. No sir, we live by grace, we
live under grace, and by the Spirit of God being taught of
grace, we seek to honor our God living in grace. We keep no legal
Sabbath day for this reason, we rest in Christ, he's our Sabbath. Oh, if you could learn that.
Oh, if folks could learn that. What a blessed, blessed, blessed
day it would be. Christ is our Sabbath. We rest in him. That's what the
Sabbath was all about. That's what it was all about.
The Lord says the Sabbath wasn't made for, a man wasn't made for
the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for man. It was made for
your benefit, made for your good, made for your instruction. The
Sabbath was a day when God required that no one do any work by which
he would get gain for himself, nor exercise any pleasure by
which he would labor in any degree for his own profit. Boy, that
kind of shows it up, doesn't it? What's the Sabbath supposed
to do on Sabbath? Nothing. Nothing. If you do, you're dead. That's
the law. This is what God required, Merle.
You break the Sabbath day, you go out and work on the Sabbath,
God says kill it. God says kill it. How come? Because that Sabbath
was not merely a day to observe. That Sabbath represented Christ
our Savior and believers come to Him and quit working. Now let me tell you something,
if you go back to trying to pick up sticks, if you go back to
trying to make your own way, if you go back to your circumcision,
your works of righteousness by which you hope to gain acceptance,
I'm going to worship Christ, I'm going to serve Christ, but
I believe I've got to do this too just in case Christ didn't
know. You're dead and God will kill you. God will kill you.
Well, preacher, are you saying then that we must rest in Christ
alone? We must! And blessed be God we
get to. He's our Sabbath. We rest in Him. You can't rest
in Him if you still try to keep a Sabbath day. And you cannot
labor under the yoke of the law if you rest in Him. Either you're
working That's about as simple as it can get, isn't it? Well,
I believe I'm kind of working rested. No, no, even if you're
at rest and you quit working, are you working? That's all it
is to him. Now the believer is a man, a
woman, who sees the futility of working his way into God's
favor and rests in Christ. What's your hope? What's your
hope? Don't answer me, Bob, answer
yourself. Rex, what's your hope before God? What is it? What's
your hope? I mean, be honest with yourself.
When you think, what's my hope before God? What's the first
thing you say? Well, I trust Christ's hand. You missed it. I trust Christ, Bob! You missed
it. What's your hope? Christ. What about your feelings? They
deceive me. What about your experiences? They can be a delusion. What
about your works? My works aren't fit for God's
acceptance. What about your good works? They're
just stinking filthy rags. Well, preacher, you mean Christ
is all? Oh, that's it. That's it. Your baptism doesn't mean anything?
Not a thing as far as acceptance from God's concerned. Taking
the Lord's table doesn't mean anything? Not a thing as far
as my salvation is concerned. You mean your faithfulness, your
giving, your faith, you let it mean anything? Oh my soul, if
you saw it like I see it, you'd know that my faithfulness is
nothing. My giving is nothing. It amounts to nothing. Nothing.
Nothing. Just filthy rags. And I don't
even see it like God does. My only hope is Christ the Lord. Now this, I've said all that
because I want you to hear me now. Oh God help you to hear
that. You who are yet laboring under
the load of guilt and sin. You who are yet without Christ.
You who have not yet come to rest in Christ. Come now to Jesus
Christ and rest. Oh God help you to come and rest. Right where you are, come to
Christ and rest. He said come unto me. All you
that labor are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. He'll give you rest. How does
he give you rest? He takes your guilt away. How
does he give you rest? He gives you righteousness. How
does he give you rest? He quietens your conscience.
How does he give you rest? He says that's enough. I'm enough. You need no more. And then he
says to you my brothers and sisters. He said take my yoke upon you. You, uh, going through some difficulty
in God's providence, some trials, some heartache. It's the yoke
of Christ, ladies and gentlemen. It's his yoke. And if we're his
oxen, we're going to walk in his yoke. Now, you walk in his
yoke kicking against the bricks. And we tend to, but you'll find
rest when you stoop down and take the yoke. Now, my father,
your will is right and good. And it's what he said, when you
take my yoke upon you and learn of me, you shall find rest unto
your soul. He says, I give you rest, you
come to me. And as you bow to me, continually bow to me, bow
to me, bow to me, you'll find rest for your soul. There's no
rest to be had but believing on the Son of God and bowing
to him as the Lord. Now then, here's the second thing.
There is no power in all the world like the power of love
for Christ. to make us bold and courageous. A mother's love will cause a
timid little woman to throw herself violently in defense of her child
against a huge man. A husband's love will cause a
man to leap into death itself to protect his wife and family.
Well did the wise men say, love is strong as death. Many waters
cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. And yet
I texteth before us a love that exceeds the love of a husband
for his wife. It even exceeds the love of a
mother for her child. Here we see a band of three women,
a small little band of three women, coming early in the morning
before the break of day they've left their home. And they're
going now to a cemetery at the breaking of day to go to prepare
themselves to minister to the body, the dead body of him whom
they trusted and still trust as their Messiah, Redeemer, and
Savior. They go to take care of one who
had been, just the day before, publicly condemned as a malefactor,
despised and rejected by the entire nation. One who is buried
now in the tomb, and buried in that tomb with a sealed rock
placed on the tomb, a huge rock placed there and sealed by the
Roman governor with a Roman soldier, probably at least two Roman soldiers,
sitting beside the tomb. And they're going there to anoint
his body. Where did they get such courage?
Look at the verses one and two. When the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene, you remember her? That old gal out of whom
the Lord had cast seven devils. Probably the same one I believe
is described in Luke chapter seven. That one who was known
as a harlot. Simon the Pharisee said when
she came and anointed the Lord for his burying he said if this
man were a prophet he would know that woman to set out. Everybody
else does. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother
of James and Salome. They had already bought sweet
spices and now they did this that they might come and anoint
him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week They
came to the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. What gave
these women such courage, such boldness? I'll tell you what. They had tasted the Lord's pardon
and mercy. They had their hearts filled
with love for him who died for them. They felt a great sense
of gratitude to him. They felt that they owed him
a great debt of love, a debt they could never pay. They believed
the Lord, and believing him, they loved him. For Christ, they
were willing to hazard their lives. They were willing to do so not
because the Lord commanded them to. Nowhere in the scriptures
is it written, the Lord said, now you come and knock my body.
Nowhere is it written that the Lord commanded these women to
come in the face of opposition, in the face of the Roman soldiers
guarding the tomb, in the face of doubtless to this tomb and
he'll do this only. No law required it. Nothing.
But it was required because of the law of love for him that
ruled their hearts. I can almost picture them. These
old gals got together And they said, girls, what can we do for
the master now? What can we do? Don't know much to do. And one of them says, I'll tell
you what we could do. We don't have time to get everything prepared
now for his burying. Sabbath is breaking. It's coming
on us. But I tell you what we could
do, we could go down to the market and buy some spices. And just
as soon as the Sabbath is over, we can go to the tomb and prepare
his body properly. Give him the best we can get.
All right, we'll do that. But don't you know how to set
a Roman guard by his tomb? That's all right, God will take
care of that. But don't you know the rock is by the tomb? But we, maybe, maybe we can get
in there and take care of his body. And so they came to the Lord's
tomb. I can't help but to ask, why
do we see so little of this strong love for Christ today? Why do we meet so few today who
are moved by such strong love for Christ? that they're willing
to hazard their lives for him, so few who are willing to face
any danger, make any sacrifice, and walk into raging storms and
roaring fires for Christ's sake. I know the answer. I know the answer. Those who sin are many, having
been forgiven, love much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. You see, when we have a low sense
of sin, We're sure to have a low sense of grace. When we have
a low sense of our debt, we'll always have a low sense of our
duty. When we have a low sense of forgiveness, we'll have a low sense of love. Great sin, forgiven by great
grace, the blood of the great Savior causes forgiven sinners
to love Christ. It is the love of Christ which
constrains believers to serve him and honor him. Men preach up law and duty and
all of the silly stuff involved in religious nonsense. And I'm
telling you, I'm telling you what I've told you so many times
before. If the grace of God, if the love of God will not call
you to do that which law will cause you to do, you've never
known God's grace. You've never experienced his
love. The love of Christ rules the believer in his giving and
in his forgiving, in his worship and in his service, in his secret
and in his public life. The love of Christ rules. Grace
experienced causes gratitude to be exercised. Trusting the
love of Christ makes people loyal to Christ. Faith makes men and
women faithful. A sure hope in Christ will cause
you to live for the honor of Christ. Somebody said, but pastor, that
just doesn't work. With the love of God's known
it does. With the grace of God's experience
it does. Oh yeah. Look at this third thing. Verse three. They came among, they said among
themselves, who shall roll away the stone from the door of the
sepulcher? And when they looked, they saw
that the stone was rolled away, for it was great. Here's the lesson. most of our
fears are needless fears. They're walking along the way
coming there with a great motive to anoint the body of the son
of God and as they come along James they start thinking about
what they might meet with, what trouble they might face, what
difficulties might lie in front of them. You know we're good
at inventing little things We're wonderful at inventing trouble.
I'll tell you what I've experienced. Thus far in nearly 49 years,
I cannot remember a single time that anything came to pass about
which I paced the floor and tossed and turned in bed and anticipated
it coming to pass. I can't remember a single time
when I ever spent an hour worrying about what might happen that
it actually happened. You see, we all have a terrible
tendency to carry tomorrow's troubles as well as today's.
And our Lord said don't do that. He said sufficient to the day's
trouble thereof. I've got enough trouble today,
I don't have to need to invent some for tomorrow. So don't take needless
fears with you, but rather cast your care upon the Lord Jesus.
How foolish our worrying, our fretting, our nail biting, our
slow pacing is. It's utter unbelief. The hymn
writer said, be not dismayed, whate'er be tied, beneath his
wings of love abide, God will take care of you, and he will. Through days of toil when heart
doth fail, when dangers fierce sure pass assail, God will take
care of you. Here's the fourth lesson. The
angels of God are all our friends. In verses 5 and 6, entering into
the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right hand,
clothed in a long white garment, and they were afraid. And he
said to them, Be not afraid. When Mary Magdalene and her friends
came into the tomb, they saw this man and were, I expect I'd
have been kind of like him. I've been walking in a cemetery
just at the crack of dawn, nobody around but just me and a couple
other fellas, and I'm expecting to see the dead corpse of a man
there, no matter how dearly I love that man. And I walked into the
tomb, the stone was gone. And I, curiosity just gets better
and I stoop in there, I go in and there's a man sitting there
in long white garments and he speaks to me. I don't imagine
I've stayed long enough to hear the second grunt. They were frightened
and he said don't be afraid, don't be afraid. You see the
angels of God, now this makes Him insignificant to you because
God doesn't speak to men by angels anymore He speaks to us by His
Son through His Word Hebrews 1 verses 1-3 say so The Lord
God doesn't send His angels to appear in visible form again
But one of these days, Bob, we're going to see them When the Lord
Jesus comes the second time in his glory, he will come with
hordes of angels with him. The angels of God are our companions
and our friends in the kingdom of God. Hebrews chapter 12 tells
us that there's an intimate connection between us through our God's
elect and God's elect angels. We are in that General Assembly,
the Church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
An innumerable company of angels are joining us there. These angels,
they're created by God to be ministering spirits sent forth
to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. The
angels of God, Paul tells us in Ephesians 3, visit our assembly. They've come with us here today.
And they meet with us to listen as we sing his praise and speak
forth our words of prayer and praise to him as we speak the
gospel of his grace. Learning the wonders of redeeming
love and saving grace. And the angels of God rejoice
in heaven in the presence of God. Every time the good shepherd
picks up one, lays it on his shoulders and carries it home.
Fifthly, the stone that is rolled away from the tomb, tells us
that the justice of God has been manifestly satisfied by the sacrificial,
sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, our all-glorious
substitute. Look what the angel says. And
he says unto them, be not afraid, you seek Jesus. Oh, what a name. What a name. Jesus, Jehovah who
saves. That's Him. Have you come seeking
Him? Oh, God gives you a heart to
seek Him. If you seek Him, you have no reason to be afraid,
not even of God. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, this
man who is himself Jehovah. He is a real man. Jesus of Nazareth,
a historic figure. Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. Slain under the curse of God's
holy law. Slain as a sacrifice, a just
sacrifice for sin. He's not here, he's risen from
the dead. Raised again for our justification. Not in order to accomplish it,
it was accomplished when he died. He was raised again to declare
that we're justified. Now, he who bore our sins to
the tomb has been raised from the dead and the empty tomb declares
our sins are gone. Now look at this grace of God
that is immutable. Verse 7. Go your way and tell
his disciples and Peter. He goes before them to Galilee.
as he said unto them. Tell my disciples who forsook
me. Tell Peter who denied me. Tell them all that I go before
them. Tell them I'll meet them in Galilee
just like I said I would. Tell them they're all pardoned.
Tell them they're all forgiven. Tell them for me, tell them for
me there's no breach between wonder of wonder. Will you hear
me? God's grace is absolutely unconditional. His forgiveness of sin is free
forgiveness. It even anticipates the sins
that are yet to be performed by us. His forgiveness of sin
is full forgiveness. And His forgiveness of sin, listen
now, listen now, is forever forgiveness. Amen. Amen.