Seeking for the blessing of the
Lord, I ask your prayer for attention on Matthew chapter 28 and reading
for our text verses 5 and 6. The gospel according to Matthew
chapter 28 and verses 5 and 6. Then the angel answered and said
unto the women, fear not ye, For I know that ye seek Jesus,
which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, come, see the place
where the Lord lay. And so these verses form part
of what the angels said unto the women. Here on this first
day of the week we've read three accounts of N, how much coming
and going there was, how much uncertainty there was, as it
was slowly dawning upon them that the Lord whom they sought,
who they had seen crucified and slain, that he was now risen
from the dead. These things had been told by
the Lord that it would be so, and how vital it is for us that
the Lord Jesus, the very same bones and body that hung upon
the cross, that was buried and would seem to be buried by these
dear disciples, had been raised again and now ascended up into
heaven, the first Fruits of the earth, the first one that would
rise from the dead, never to die again, never to go to the
earth again. We know our Lord, of course,
performed those miracles with Lazarus and others, that they
rose from the dead, but one day they would die again. and again
would partake of that resurrection of which our Lord was the first. What a central theme of the gospel
that the Lord is risen. And so I want to look at the
message that the angels gave. We know that the word before
us is the holy and inspired word of God. And the words that the
angels spake and what has been chosen to be given to us through
the evangelists is appointed by God. A very special purpose
and every word really of great importance to us. And so there
are seven, seven vital subjects that are introduced by the angels
words and they apply for gospel days. We know in a literal way
the words of our text. We have the women told that they
are not to fear in this present situation as they come to this
tomb and as they see the angels. They are told that they know
that they seek the Lord Jesus Christ which was crucified, they
know exactly why they are there, what they are doing there, they
assure them of that, and they tell them very clearly that he
is not here, there's no use seeking for him anymore in that place,
and the reason is that he is risen, not being taken away by
the other disciples, not being stolen away by the Jews or the
Romans, but he is risen and they are then invited to come and
see not the risen saviour but the place where he lay to show
that really the tomb is empty, he is not there. And of course their message goes
on further to tell them to go quickly and to tell the other
disciples that he is risen from the dead and goes before them
into Galilee. But the words of our text, they
give us seven vital subjects, and I'll introduce them one by
one as we come to them. The first is this, fear not. The angel answered and said unto
the women, fear not ye. When we think of how vital it
is if we are to be saved, and we are to know anything in the
things of God, we are to do with the things of heaven, of the
God of heaven and of earth. When the law was introduced at
Mount Sinai in Exodus 20 verse 20, that whole mountain quaked
with fire, the Lord's voice was thundering, and with a great
and mighty voice And we read how much the people feared. And
again we have a fear not at the giving of the law. And they were
assured that though it was a great thing, and the Lord's presence
there at Mount Sinai, yet the Lord was not going to consume
them, but he had given them that law for a purpose. And really the law is a forerunner
to the Gospel. The Apostle Paul says, The law
is our schoolmaster unto Christ. The law was never given that
we should obey it and obtain life. It was given that all the
world might be brought in guilty before God, and that there is
none that doeth good and sinneth not. It is a preparation for
the Saviour, preparation for mercy, a preparation for the
true Gospel. And so there is a fear not at
Mount Sinai. When they entered, the children
of Israel entered into the promised land. We read in Deuteronomy
and in Joshua, many fear nots. They were going into a land with
giants, an unknown land. They had battles to do with many
adversaries there, and they were small people. And Joshua was
assured again and again to fear not, they had to rest and lean
upon the Lord. Again, a reminder to us, if we
are to enter heaven, there is a battle, there is a fight. We
are told that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high
places. And it is a thing, if we are
truly on the right way, there will be fears in the way. There was with the children of
Israel when the law was given. There was when they came into
the promised land. If we went back to the story,
the account of Joseph and his brethren, many times Joseph had
to assure his brethren to fear not. They knew what they had
done to him. They knew how that they had sold
him, and they had rightly to fear that he would take vengeance
on them. but he assured them that they
were to fear not. Then we think of when our Lord
was born in the gospel according to Luke, we read of the angels
appearing to the shepherds, how many times it is that angels
feature in the gospel accounts. But the shepherds, they needed
a fear not Mary, When the angel appeared to her, needed a fear
not, Joseph needed one. Wherever there is an interaction
between men, sinful men, and God, and angels, and those heavenly
hosts, there is then a need of those fear nots. And there is
in a gospel sense as well. In Isaiah, we have, really Isaiah
is a gospel, Old Testament, and there's many Beautiful words
applying to the people of God, of the fear nots there. In Isaiah
41, in verse 13, we read, For I, the Lord thy God, will hold
thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One. of Israel. And then we have in
the beginning of chapter 43, But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou walkest past us through
the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. And these are gospel promises
and fear nots. Verse five, fear not, for I am
with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. When we remember the Lord
Jesus Christ and the redemption, He has wrought a calvary, his
precious blood shed there. How much we would value those
fear nots in the word of God. The Lord said, I'm not come to
destroy men's lives, but to save them. Wherever the truth of God
is, is never a light trifling, acting as if They're not in the
presence of the eternal God. Wherever man has interaction
with the true and living God, then he cannot but fear, and
he needs those fear nots. Daniel, he needed them. All the
Lord's people that have dealt with the God of heaven and earth
need these fear nots. And so this is the first vital
subject that The angels introduce to those that are near the Lord,
to those that are seeking Him, those that are coming nigh unto
Him, they say, fear not ye. The second thing is seeking Jesus. Seeking Jesus. They said, for
I know that ye seek Jesus. Now, of course, they were seeking
Him in a way that you and I cannot, they were expecting to see him
bodily, and later on they did. But that does not mean then,
to the end of the world, there will be a people that are seeking,
seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord says, seek ye first
the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you. Ask and it shall
be given you. Seek and ye shall find not, and
it shall be opened unto you. The vital subject that what we
are to seek is not seeking another religion, is not seeking a particular
people, a particular form as it were, or just religion. It
is seeking a person. It is seeking after the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, There is none
other name given among men whereby we must be saved. If ye believe
not that I am he, ye shall perish in your sins. And I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And so the subject, and that
which the angels said here, ye seek Jesus. And that is vital
for us each, right through our lives as a first seeker, as a
first one that is seeking eternal life. The Greeks, they came after
the apostles. They said, sirs, we would see
Jesus. And they're looking for him. Have you seen him who was crucified? It is the one aim and one desire
for the people of God that they might seek the Lord Jesus Christ. And those were given their promise
that they that seek me early shall find me, early in trials,
in troubles, early in life, that they shall find me. And that
should be our desire always that we are seeking the Lord. So how
do we seek in gospel days? We seek Him in the Word of God. The Lord, when He met with the
two on the way to Emmaus, He took them in all the scriptures,
the things concerning Himself. And so in the Word of God, He
says of the Jews, search the scriptures for in them You think
ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."
If you and I are seeking Jesus, we are to seek Him in the Word
of God, for He is right through the Scripture and the Old Testament
types, in the prophecies, in the Gospels, in all the Scriptures. Then we are to seek Him in prayer. A living soul is a praying soul. The Lord taught that men ought
always to pray and not to faint, that we are to pray through the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is our advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. We may come through him, we plead
his name. If he asks anything in my name,
I will do it. And if we are to be brought near
to the Lord Jesus Christ and to find him, It is in the path
of prayer. And the other way is in the preaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to be lifted up, and I,
if I be lifted up above the earth, will draw all men unto me. He's
lifted up on the pole of the everlasting gospel. Our Lord
says in John 3, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but should have eternal life. And
so he would attend to the preaching of the word and to hear the word
of the Lord. It is also seeking him in the
gathering of his people, where his people gather together. Ruth desired to be where Naomi
was, where her people was, where her God was. The disciples, when
they were persecuted, being let go, they went unto their own
company. And the token that God gives
of being saved is we know that we have passed from death unto
life in that we love the brethren. And there will be a desire then
to be with the brethren. We cannot help noticing that
when the disciples were gathered in the upper room recorded in
Then the Lord came and met with them, but Thomas was not there,
and he had to wait another eight days until the next first day
of the week before he saw the Lord. And if he had been gathered
with the disciples, then he would have seen the Lord as well. It's
a great encouragement to not absent ourselves from the gathering
together of the people of God, Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the man of some is, says Paul in Hebrews. And so much the more as you see
the day approaching. So that's the second. And what
is very noted here, the angels saying, I know that you seek
Jesus. And we may say this, that God
knows everyone that is truly seeking him. because it is of
His grace and is of His mercy if we do seek Him. How Zacchaeus
came to look for Him, the woman at the well of Samaria, all of
those that came after the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord says clearly
that no man cometh unto Me except the Father which sent Me draw
him, and I will raise him up at the last day. And it is a
blessed thing, a blessed token. When we think of what these angels
say, they knew who these women sought, and the Lord knows for
every burdened sinner, everyone that feels their sins, everyone
that feels their need of the Redeemer, that seeking after
Him, the Lord knows. And He knows too, whether we
are just coming out and in and out from the house of God, and
that we're just following around some religion or service and
not actually seeking any blessing or seeking the Lord at all. But
where we are, the Lord knows that. May we each be true seekers,
not just at the beginning, but all the way through our lives.
Our desire is, every time we open the Word and every time
we hear it preached, so we would see Jesus. We want to see him
through the lattice of the word. We want truly to see him by faith,
and then at last to see him in heaven, to know even as we are
known. The third thing that they introduce
as a vital subject is Jesus which was crucified. The disciples at first could
not understand that the Lord whom they loved and walked with
could allow himself to be taken and by wicked hands crucified
and slain. And on the way to Emmaus, we
trusted it should have been he that should have redeemed Israel.
And they couldn't see that that redemption was shedding of blood. It was through his death. And
yet the apostle Paul, when he writes to the Corinthians that
he determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. And he speaks in a personal way
when he writes to the Galatians that it is by the Lord Jesus
and his crucifixion by whom I am crucified unto the world and
the world unto me. When our Lord was crucified,
The world was saying, away with him, away with him, crucify him. They did not want the Lord. And
with the people of God, they do not want the world, and the
world does not want them. The Lord says in John 17, I have
given them thy word, that is, his people, and the world hath
hated them. The crucifixion of our Lord was
vital, He was delivered by the determinate counsel and full
knowledge of God, taken by wicked hands, crucified and slain. His message to the two on the
way to Emmaus ought not Christ to have suffered these things
and to enter into his glory. And it was vital that he be crucified
to fulfil what was said a thousand years before in the Psalm 22,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? To fulfil what was
said in that psalm and Psalm 69, I may tell all my bones. They did look and stare upon
me, they parted my garments among them. All these things prophesied
a thousand years before. The scriptures must be fulfilled,
but the shedding of blood must take place. With Cain and Abel,
God had respect to Abel's sacrifice, but not to Cain. Because Cain,
there was no shedding of blood. Abel, there was. And in all the
sacrifices of the Jews, the Passover especially, there was the shedding
of blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there was no remission. Our blood is not worth anything.
Our blood must be shed. We're all ready. under the sentence
of death. We cannot redeem ourselves, we
cannot redeem a brother. But the Lord was spotless, pure,
sinless. He did not need to die. He said,
no man taketh my life from me, I lay it down of myself. I have
power to lay it down, I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father. And so what was vital
was that they were seeking, and that we seek, He that was crucified. Not that is, but was. He that was dead. He that fulfilled
the scriptures in that one sin-atoning sacrifice. The sins of all the
Church of God, from the first to the last one, from Abel to
the last one that shall be saved, all their sins laid upon him. Our has laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. Again, Isaiah 53, beautiful chapter
foretelling of the sufferings of the Lord. And again, it's
very vital for us that in our seeking, it is Jesus which was
crucified. that the cross is central, the
cross is vital to us, that it is Christ that died, yea rather
risen again, and sitteth at the right hand of the throne of God
on high. The fourth thing that is set
before us is where he is not. The angel said, he is not here. In Luke's account, We have the
question, why seek ye the living among the dead? Now, if we were
seeking for anything, if we were looking for anything, it would
be a help to us to be told where something is not. And here, he
is told he is not dead, he is not in the tomb, he is not here. And in a gospel sense, That is
very vital for us. If we are truly seeking the Lord,
we need to seek Him where He is to be found. There's a most
solemn letter we have in Revelation, seven letters that are written
to the churches or to the angels of the churches. And in Revelation
3 and verse 1, we have the letter to the church at Sardis. And
what is said of that church, I know thy works that thou hast
a name that thou livest and art dead. Now that was a true church,
but it was being reproved because really they had the name of a
church, but really in that church they were dead. They were not
a true church. And there are many, many that
have a name as being a church, but are not a true church. They don't preach the truth,
they don't hold the truth, and the Lord is not there. And it's
a great mercy to be delivered from seeking the Lord where actually
He is not. The dead are there. Those that
are the leaders are not actually converted. They are not actually
saved. And so it is a very important
thing for us that we go where the Lord is to be found and not
where he is not. We do not expect the Lord to
be found if we were to go to a football match or go to the
cinema or to go amongst the world, amongst the dead, amongst the
carnal, amongst those that are of this world. Whosoever will
be a friend of this world is an enemy of God. whatever was
Lot thinking, when Lot separated from Abraham and he pitched his
tent towards Sodom, and in the end he ended up in Sodom, and
except by the grace and mercy of God who delivered him out
of Sodom, then he would have been destroyed there. And so
with us as well, we have that question that the Lord asked
Elijah, when he was in the Mount of God. What doest thou hear,
Elijah? And we may ask ourselves in where
we go and where we seek the Lord, what doest thou hear? Do we expect
to find the Lord there? And so this is a vital question
with us and told where He is not, certainly not amongst the
dead, the spiritually dead, but with the spiritually alive. The fifth thing is a risen Saviour. What a vital subject that that
is. And we have this here, He is
not here, for He is risen. Just a few words, and yet what
a blessed thing to be told this, He is risen. He is risen. That is, He is alive. And He is alive today. In all our references to our
Lord Jesus Christ, we speak of one who is alive and who has
promised to be with us all way. He has ascended up into heaven.
His bodily presence is there. But He is with His people by
His Spirit and by His grace. Lo, I'm with you always, even
unto the end of the world. And we worship not a dead Christ,
but a living Christ. And He is alive in heaven. And so a risen Savior, the empty
tomb, but a risen Saviour. He lives to carry on His people's
cause above. One of Him says, what voice is
that which speaks for me in heaven's high court for good, and from
the curse has set me free, it is Jesus' precious blood. He said to His disciples, tarry
at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. I will
pray the Father He will give you another Comforter which shall
abide with you for ever.' And the day of Pentecost, that Spirit
fell with great power, and Peter preached, and the blessing upon
the Word preached. Many were converted, many were
saved, convicted of their sin and brought to be baptised and
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to the saving of their
souls. Now it is a risen saviour. Now scriptures speak of the Lord
rising with healing in his wings. And that's a blessed thing for
a soul to realise that and to know that the Lord is risen indeed
in their hearts. And so this message, an empty
tomb, a risen saviour, Paul says to those at Mars Hill, He hath
given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from
the dead. A Risen Saviour. The sixth message
that the angels give here is that the word of the Lord will
come to pass. They say this, He is not here, for he is risen
as he said. As he said. And that you know
is vital. What if there was something in
the holy word of God that it could be said, that God said
that it would happen, but it didn't? Every word of God is pure. And our Lord says, heaven and
earth shall pass away that my words shall not pass away, they
shall come to pass. And it should give us a very
high view of the holy, sacred word of God, that we believe
what he has said. And when we read these gospel
accounts, we read of what has actually come to pass, not just
what he told the disciples here, which was that he would rise
again, he sought to prepare them for this, yet they did not understand
what he was telling them. But here the angels remind them,
not only has he risen, but it is exactly as he said. It has come to pass. His word
has been fulfilled. He did not deceive them. What
he has said, did happen, and so they remind them of this,
as he said. I wonder how many of us the Lord
has spoken to us through his word, and we put the Lord in
reminder of it. Thou saidst, I will surely do
thee good, hath he said, and shall he not do it? We have that
reminder constantly. And if we are to believe and
rest in the Word, and hope in that Word, and hope not just
for time but for eternity, then we're resting on the Word of
God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And we trust in that Word that
the Lord has said, that he will not go back upon it. Call upon
me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify
me. The Lord has said to his people
that those that seek that they shall find he has promised of
them that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Those are precious words of the
Lord that is to be said before the people of God that they are
to rely on When the Lord was raised up into heaven, the angels
again, they had a message. He that thou hast seen ascending
into heaven shall come in light manner with power and great glory. Those disciples, they wouldn't
see that, but there shall be a generation that will see it. They shall see the Lord coming.
When ye see these things come to pass, look up, for your redemption
draweth nigh. There shall be a generation that
in the midst of those, like they were in Noah's day, buying and
selling and marrying and giving in marriage until the flood came
and took them all away. At the end of the world the Lord
shall come, and the signs of that shall be seen. Many they
shall call upon the rocks and the hills to hide them from the
face of him that sitteth upon the throne. But for God's people,
those who have known him by faith here, they shall know that the
Lord is coming and that their redemption is nigh. And so we
have this sixth message. The word of the Lord will come
to pass. All that the Lord has said in
his word All that is said to his dear people, what is conveyed
to them, it will come to pass. The seventh message is seeing
the place where the Lord lay. They invite the women to come,
see the place where the Lord lay. They would actually deceive
the tomb and see the place where he'd lain. And again, in a literal
way, that cannot, will not apply to any of us here. But the Lord
has been pleased to give to the Church of God two ordinances. One is believers' baptism, and
the other is the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Both of those
the Lord gave, He said, go ye into all the world, preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. And we have
not adult baptism, but believers baptism, and it is significant. It shows forth the Lord's death
till he come, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper does, and baptism. that which the eunuch says, see
here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptised? And in baptism
we are buried with him by baptism into death and risen again in
newness of life. So in baptism we have really
seen the place where the Lord lay. And the apostle, when he
writes to the Romans, says before us that in Romans 6 and verse
4, he says, verse 3 and 4, Know ye not that so many of us were
baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? Wherefore we are buried with
Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, Even so, we also
should walk in newness of life. And so he says before them, baptism. Then when he writes to the Colossians
in chapter two, verse 12, he says, buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. And you being
dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. And so when the Angels say, come
see the place where the Lord lay. They point us to this vital
doctrine, vital ordinance for the people of God that they are
to see in a very literal way when the candidate is baptized
and put below the water and then raised up again. If they stay
under the water, then they would die. But when they're raised
up again, they're raised up as Christ was, to be in newness
of life. When God saves a sinner, he makes
a difference. When he converts them, when he
works in their heart, he changes them, he brings them to walk
in the ways of the Lord and to fear the Lord. and they have
this ordinance as a witness that those who have received the word
of God have identified with Christ in his death and in his sufferings
and in his rising again. The Lord says of his people that
they are to take up their cross and that they are to follow him. So what these angels said and
what is in the inspired word of God introduces to us and says
before us these seven vital things. May we have the fear of the Lord
and are dealing with eternal things, so we need the fear nots
of the Word of God. And if we do fear, may we value
those fear nots and know that the Lord is not come to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. And may in our seeking we truly
seek Jesus, that that is our aim, that is our desire. And
not only Jesus, but He that was crucified. And not only He that
was crucified, but who is risen again. And that we seek for Him
amongst the living, those that are truly called by grace, born
again of the Spirit, and live spiritually, I give unto them
eternal life, they shall never perish. And of those that view
and see a risen Saviour, they worship a living God, the God
that they have a daily communion, fellowship with, day by day,
in prayer, in the Word, in reading. They have those things that come
to pass, the word of the Lord fulfilled in their heart and
in their lives. And as they believe, they put
him on in open profession, in baptism, identifying with him
in his death and in his resurrection. So maybe know something of the
subjects that the angels spoke of here. The angel answered and
said unto the women, For I know that ye seek Jesus which was
crucified, he is not here, he is risen, as he said, come see
the place where the Lord lay. Amen.