Matthew chapter 28. Title of the message, Jesus Christ
is alive and well. We have just gone through His
crucifixion, the beating that He took, the rejection He took,
the forsaking of God that He took, And now all that's over,
that's all over. He accomplished what he came
to do. He's now alive and well. Though we preach Christ crucified,
we do not preach him as dead. We do preach him as one who died,
but he's not dead. He's alive forevermore. Looking at this this past week,
my thoughts were just continually on the fact, the truth, the reality
that Jesus Christ is seated at God's right hand. My Savior,
my Lord, my God is alive and well. Someone said, and I believe
it was Rolf Barner said this, A dead Christ cannot save anyone,
but a risen Lord can and does. We preach a risen, reigning, not trying to, not
sitting and see what we're going to do with His work, His suffering,
His death. What are we going to do with
it? What's He gonna do with us? What's He gonna do with me? That's
my, you know, that's my concern. Lord, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. I'm the guilty
one. I'm the one that needs mercy.
I'm the one that needs saving. And He can do it. We preach a
risen reigning Lord who is seated at God's right hand right now,
having all power and all authority vested in Him." That's what He
says to His disciples. Now listen, all nations for 4,000
years, this world as a whole sat in darkness. There was one small nation that
had the Word of God, that had the types and the pictures of
redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the rest of the world,
the Gentile world, sat in darkness. But now, now that Jesus Christ
is risen, the day star is risen with healing in His wings. And
now the gospel message is, go to all the world, he said, and
teach. Make disciples, is what that's
saying, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." It's no more confined. It's no more confined to this
one little nation. It has gone throughout the world. Now he says here in verse 1,
In the end of the Sabbath, this was a Passover Sabbath, and it
has now come to an end. And early the next morning, a
new day dawned," it says at dawn, and my first thought was, a new
day dawned and did it ever. Did it ever. That light that
was shining in Israel is now shining throughout the whole
world. This world has not been the same since that day He rose
from the dead. The gospel has gone throughout
this whole world. Sinners have been saved. Those
who sat in darkness have seen a great light. My, it's a new day, a new day,
a new day dawn. The old Jewish Sabbath is now
over and the true Sabbath is risen. The Sabbath represented
rest from laboring. Over in Exodus 20, let me read
this to you, over here in Exodus 20. The old Sabbath, the old
Jewish Sabbath. In Exodus chapter 20, let me
see here. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Six days shalt thou work, and
do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day. He didn't rest the Sabbath
day because he's tired, because it's finished. What was the last
thing our Lord cried on the cross? It is finished. It's finished. Wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now, that day, that day which
was a typical day of rest unto the Lord, That day has been done
away with, it's been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Our Sabbath,
our Sabbath is not a day. Our Sabbath is not Sunday. Our
Sabbath is Jesus Christ. He is our rest. We have ceased
from laboring to please God. We've ceased from laboring to
keep any commandment in order to be accepted of God. I and
you. You who believe, we do not do
one thing to gain acceptance to God. Our acceptance before
God is Jesus Christ. Look over in Ephesians 1. Let
me see if I can find the verse. In Ephesians 1. Let me start with verse 3. I'll
read it, and I think it's in chapter 1 here. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. to the
praise of the glory of His grace wherein, here it is, wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." God made me accepted
in Christ. God did that. And in time, in time, He gives
us a new birth. And when a man or woman, a sinner,
is born of God, you know what's the first thing they do? They
believe God. They believe God. And that's
where conviction of sin comes in, when you believe God concerning
who He is, who Jesus Christ is, and who you are. You believe
God. So Christ here, Christ is our
Sabbath. We don't labor anymore. Every
sinner whom God saves find Jesus Christ to be their rest. You can read that over in Hebrews
chapter 4. You'll find Him to be your rest. Now, there were
two women mentioned here, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Mary Magdalene was the one whom
the Lord cast out seven devils. You know the Scripture says,
to whom much is forgiven, they love much. Here is the other
Mary. But when it speaks of Mary Magdalene,
it always speaks of Mary Magdalene. It mentions her full name. She's
the one whom the Lord cast out seven devils. And she is one
of the ladies that are first there at the early, got up early
in the morning at dawn. And they went to the grave, they
went to the sepulcher where he was. She was with some other
ones and they got up and they went there. And they went there
with heavy, heavy hearts. Heavy, heavy hearts. You know
how heavy they are. They witnessed the crucifixion.
They were there. They witnessed it. It says over
here in Matthew 27, in verse 55, it says, and many women were
there beholding afar off. She's one of them. They were
standing there far up, but they were watching this thing. And
this is the woman who ministered to her and others. They ministered
to our Lord. They took care of Him. They opened
their homes to Him. They took care of Him. And so
early that morning, they went with heavy hearts expecting to
just go there to the grave. They wanted to visit the grave.
And let me tell you something, there's nothing wrong at all
with visiting the grave of a loved one. There's nothing superstitious
about that. There's nothing wrong. That's
the body of the person I love. And that's where they are. And
there's nothing wrong with it. They went there. And they went
there to, no doubt, to just reminisce and talk and just deal with it. Deal with it. That's how, you
know, we don't give ourselves time to really deal with grief.
We live in such a fast-paced life, we really don't have time
to deal with grief. You know, back when I was working
for a company, you got three days off. I mean, that's what
you got, you got three days off. If it was a close relative. You
got three days off, you had to be back to work. We just don't
have time to grieve. And they went there to just,
this is part of, grieving is part of a healing process. But
boy, what they're going to find out though, their joy, their
heaviness and their sorrow is going to be turned into joy. But I thought this, you know,
as I was thinking about them going to that gravesite, there
to the tomb, I thought, oh, how slow we are to believe the Word
of God. Because the angel said there
in verse 6, he's not here, he's risen, as he said. As he said, over in Luke, when
this is given, this incident is given, and it says, they remembered. When he said, he told you about
this, and then it says, they remembered. They remembered his
word. But how slow we are to believe
what our Lord says. How slow we are. Because over
here in, Verse 17 and when they saw him
they worshiped him, but some some doubted some doubted It's
amazing But as they went they went they experienced on their
way there a great earthquake There was another earthquake
you remember that when the Lord gave up the ghost when he Gave
up his spirit that the earthquake Someone said it quaked out of
horror of his creator dying. And then here it quakes, it says
it quaked out of joy that he's risen. But the earth, this earth
shook again when he rose from the dead. Power, power. I'm telling you, we've never
seen what real power is. That's power when He comes out
of that grave and the earth just rocks underneath Him. That's
because God Almighty is walking out of there. That's God the Son. That's who
He is. And then an angel from heaven
came down to roll away the stone. Remember they sealed it? Boy,
you see the power of an angel here too. He came down, He just
rolled that, by Himself, just rolled that stone away. Our Lord could have, He could
have removed that stone Himself. He's God. He could have removed
that stone Himself. But the image, the picture that
I get, as I read this, is that the King of glory, Rises up. Remember on the cross, He got
no help. On the cross, He said, My God,
My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? The angels couldn't help
Him. God the Father turned His back
on Him. But now, now He's alive. Now His work is done. Now it's
finished. Now the King of glory rises up
off that bench they've got Him laid on and that tomb. He rises
up and His servant now comes and rolls a stone out of His
way so He can walk out. They are His servants. The angels
are all His servants. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. Who can even put a number on
how many angels there are? But every last one of them, they
are waiting to do His bidding. Every one of them. And God sent
that angel down to move that stone out of the way and let
the King of glory walk out. And He did. And He did. And this was done also as a witness
from heaven. Listen, this is done as a witness
from heaven of His acceptance. And you'll notice when this happened,
this earthquake happened and this angel came down and this
angel sat on that stone. That stone was no obstacle to
him. Not at all. Those hardened soldiers
feared so much that they fell down like dead men. They passed
out. They literally passed out from fear. And I've never experienced
that kind of fear. I mean, I have experienced fear
before, but I have never experienced fear that made me pass out. They
fell down like dead men. Just wait till they meet God. Just wait on sinners who die
in unbelief. The fear that they had when this
angel came down and they passed out, it's still not even to be
compared to the fear they're going to have when they actually
stand before Almighty God. There's a scripture over, I believe
it's in Revelation, it says, they're going to cry for the
rocks and the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the
wrath of the Lamb. But the angel's appearance here,
notice here, his appearance was like lightning. I mean, I'm just
trying to get this in my head as I study. It's like lightning.
It's that brilliant. It's that bright. It's that glistening. And it's raiment white as snow.
It's a symbol of power and purity. That's the only thing that comes
from heaven. That's what comes from heaven.
Power and purity. And then this angel spoke to
the women. They didn't fall down as dead. Now, they were fearful,
but they didn't fall down as dead. And when He spoke to them,
He spoke words of comfort. The first thing He said to them
is, Fear not. Fear not. Can you imagine standing
there looking at this angel that's like lightning and is just glistening? And He says to them, Fear not. Those who believe the gospel,
those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, You have nothing
to fear. I can say to every one of you,
fear not. Fear not. Even the angels are for us. If we could only comprehend the
power that God has invested in angels and that He has given
them to watch over us, to protect us and to keep us. If we could
just Get a hold of that. It's there. It's there. It's not like it's not within
our grasp. Believe. To believe the gospel, to believe
the Word of God is to believe all of it. Fear not. Even the angels are
for us. And the angel knew, I want you
to notice here in verse 5, the angel knew that they were seeking
the Lord. He says there in verse 5, and
the angel answered and said to the women, Fear not, for I know.
I know that you seek Jesus. I know that. You know, the angels
know even everyone here who's seeking the Lord. Even they know
that. They know that. The angels know the tares from
the wheat. They know the sheep from the
goats. I know, he said, I know this. I know you're seeking Him.
I know who you belong to. I know who you belong to. You're seeking Jesus which was
crucified, put to death. Even the angel identified Him
as Christ crucified. But here's the good news in verse
6. Here's the good news. He is not
here. He is not here. He's not on that cross anymore.
You know, Catholicism just can't get it. He's not on that cross.
He's not hanging on a cross. He's seated at God's right hand.
He's not here. He's not in the tomb. He's not
in the grave. He's risen as He said. Have you ever really stopped
and think about the Lord Jesus Christ? Risen, seated at God's
right hand. Just sit down sometime by yourself
and really sit there and contemplate the reality of this. I mean,
let the reality of it really sink in. Our Lord is on the throne. Our Lord is alive and well. He is not here in this tomb. He's risen, as he said, come
see the place where the Lord lay. You know what they saw when
they walked in there? An empty grave. And that empty
grave is my empty grave. It's mine too. They saw an empty grave. They
saw scripture fulfilled because he said he would rise. Now let
me just make a few comments here on the resurrection. First of all, it was an exhibition
of divine power. God raised Him from the dead. God raised... He was truly a
man, and He is truly a man. The manhood of Christ was truly
mortal. He could die. He could die. But now when He rose from the
grave, His body became immortal. And you and I, we've already
been looking at it in Corinthians, our body is going to be made
just like His. Powerful, new, unimaginable. I'll just muddy
up the water trying to explain it. But it was an exhibition
of divine power. And then it's a fulfilling of
the Scriptures. It's written in the Scriptures,
in the Psalms, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, that is,
in the grave. Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy
One to see corruption. He never saw corruption. He never
saw it. When they bury this body in the
grave, this body is going to see corruption. It's going to
decay. His didn't. His changed. They never saw corruption. And then His resurrection makes
it clear that He paid the sin debt for a multitude of sinners. Turn over to Romans chapter 4.
In Romans chapter 4, In verse 23, Now it was not written
for his sake alone, that is Abraham's sake alone, that it was imputed
to him, that his righteousness was imputed to him. But for us
also, to whom it shall be imputed, we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. It's evident the
sin debts paid. And in Christ we are justified. And then His resurrection ensures,
listen, it ensures that the covenant of grace will be carried out.
That last will and testament spoken of over there in Hebrews,
that covenant of grace, it will be carried out. It tells us over
in Hebrews 9 that for a last will and testament to be ratified,
for it to be any good, the one who made it, the testator, must
die. You know, if I make out a will to my sons, I have to
die before it's enforced. So the covenant of grace was
ratified by the blood of Christ. That last will and testament
made by God is ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, but
here's the good news. He lives to enforce it. Now I can make a will and testament
to my sons and it can be contested, somebody can steal it, I mean
it just, who knows what's gonna happen. But our Lord arose from
the grave and he lives to enforce that testament. He lives to enforce
and see to it that those to whom it's made with get everything
in it. Everything that's written in
it. So His resurrection assures,
it's not only the ratification of it, but it also assures the
accomplishment of it. And then it assures, the Lord's
resurrection ensures our resurrection. Listen, because I live, ye shall
live also. Now, why do I have any hope?
Why does this sinner have any hope whatsoever of being made
alive again, of coming out of the grave and being with God? I'll tell you one, one, one hope,
one hope. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. When he arose, all whom he represented
arose. And then in time, you and I are
going to die, and we're physically going to be brought out of that
grave. Because I live, you shall live also. You'll live again. Look over in Ephesians again,
chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, look in verse 4 through 6. who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. He made us alive
together with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised
us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
But we have been raised up and made to sit together." You know,
in Christ, now listen, Spiritually, in Christ, we are already seated
in heaven. We are already seated right there,
where He is, at the right hand of God. We're already seated.
Now, in time, we're going to experience that. But in our representative,
we're already there. He's already raised us up. Everything, everything, Everything
we believe concerning the gospel hinges on the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. Paul said, if He's not risen,
you're yet in your sins. And we are of all men most miserable,
if in this life only we have hope in Christ, if He's not risen. Everything hinges on His rising
from the dead. And then His resurrection takes
away the power of the grave. We don't need to fear the grave. His resurrection takes away the
power of the grave. Oh, grave, where's your sting?
Or, oh, death, where's your sting? Grave, where's your victory?
He takes away the power of Satan. He has crushed the power of Satan. He's taken away the power of
sin. My, when He rose, He rose triumphant
over all, over all principalities and powers. He rose over all
of them. Now He says in verse 7, the angel
says to them, Go quickly and tell His disciples that He's
risen from the dead. Don't stand around here at the
grave. We're not going to worship a grave. We're not going to worship
that grave, that tomb. We're going to worship Jesus
Christ. We don't worship the cross. We worship the Christ
of the cross. He says, don't hang around. Go
tell His disciples He's risen from the dead. Spread the good
news to His disciples. Is this good news to you this
morning? I mean, do you really find it to be good news? Can this, does this really put
a snap in your step? Our Lord is risen. And then listen
there. He says, and he goes before you
into Galilee. He never sends his children anywhere
that he's not. I go before you into Galilee. And our Lord also
said this in one place, where two or three are gathered together,
there are mine in the midst of them. If you want to be where He is
and find out where His disciples are, you'll find out where He
is. Where His disciples are, that's where He is. And lo, I have told you, I started to title the message
this morning, Lo, I have told you, every person sitting in
this room, you have been told this morning from the Word of
God that Jesus Christ is risen. He is seated at God's right hand.
And I suggest to every one of us, look to Him. flee to Him
and go to Him for mercy and for forgiveness and for salvation.
He said, all power is given unto me, heaven and earth, all power
and all authority. He has the right to save and
the power to save. I've told you, I told you, He's
risen. The messenger has delivered the
message. That's all I'm for this morning. I'm just here to deliver
a message, that's all. He's risen, and I've told you." And they went from that place
with fear, listen, and great joy. Can you just imagine? They just witnessed His crucifixion. They just witnessed the mutilation
of His body. They just witnessed Him crying
and listening to Him. Listening to Him cry from that
cross in darkness. They listened to Him crying out
in that darkness. They listened to Him. And now they find out he's risen.
He's risen. Fear and great joy. Those are
two good qualities to have. And while they went, guess who
met them? While they were in the way of
obedience, they did what the angels said. They met the Lord. He appeared to them. The first
thing they did was fall down at His feet and worship Him. And I tell you this, if God Almighty
makes any of us to realize who Jesus Christ is and that He is
alive and well, we will fall down at His feet and worship
Him. I mean, we will literally, for
the first time, worship, worship. And he said to them the same
thing the angel said, be not afraid. You don't need to be
afraid of me. I tell you this, if you don't
believe God, you need to be afraid. If you don't believe God, I didn't
say if you don't believe in God, everybody believes in a God,
they believe that there is a God. But if you do not believe God
concerning His Son Jesus Christ and the message of redemption,
you have every right to be afraid. You need to be afraid. But every
one of you who believe, you don't need to be afraid. Not at all. Not in the least. You don't need
to be afraid. So he said, be not afraid. Go tell
the message. Spread the message. Spread it
far and wide. Go tell my disciples. Go tell my brethren, my brethren, that they go into Galilee and
there shall they see me. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you'll see.