Lord's risen. You know what my
message is going to be today? Tom read it there. Christ is
risen. He's risen. Had Brother Tom read
that portion for us to see the resurrection from the grave of
our Savior. Oh my. After his death upon the
cross. Turn if you would to Matthew
chapter 27. We'll read a little bit in Matthew 27 before we go
over to Matthew 28. Oh my. Now the chief priests and the
Pharisees had asked, they come before Pilate and they asked
Pilate if he could send a guard, he could send a guard to the
tomb of Christ because they had heard him say that he was going
to rise again on the third day. And so they asked Pilate, to
send a guard there and they would set a seal on the tomb and the
guards there, now if the guards there let their prisoner go away
or let anybody go away or anything was to happen to the body, they
would be on the penalty of death. Just like that's why that Philippian
jailer was going to fall on his sword. He thought the prisoners
had escaped after the great earthquake, but none of them have gone anywhere.
And so he realized, you know, God gave him grace to realize
it's the mercy of God. God had mercy on him, didn't
he? He says, what must I do to be saved? And Paul said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe. Just look to Christ. Oh my. So they asked that the guard
be placed at the tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they remembered
again that Christ had said that he would rise again on the third
day. Look at Matthew 27, verses 62
to 66. Now the next day, that followed
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees
came together under Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that deceiver. Look what they called our Lord.
This is a man who knew no sin, did no sin, and they're calling
him a deceiver. They're the deceivers, aren't
they? Wicked men. Religion's wicked. Any form of
it. It's just wicked what men think
about God. And think of this too, they're
gonna go, they don't know who he is. Do you think that a seal
set by guards is gonna stop the Lord from rising from the grave?
It's the Lord, they didn't know who he was. He's the Lord of
glory. Nothing's gonna stop him, right? Remember he sent, why was he
sent? To redeem us. Then he rose for our justification.
He has to rise for our justification. It's all being planned and purposed
in God's eternal covenant. Can anyone stop God? No. No one. And they say they worship
God, and then they call the Son of God a deceiver. How deceived
they are. See, that's our state, though.
We can't look at them and say, well, look at those, look at
those. That was our state before the Lord saved us. We're the
same. We all come from the same quarry
of humanity, don't we? Right? We're all hearing from
the same quarry. My oh my. Look at this. Now the next day that followed,
the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees came
together under Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver
said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise
again. Wonderful words. I will rise again. Oh, didn't
it make your heart warm? Wonderful. I will rise again.
Command, therefore, that the sepulcher be made sure, that's
with a seal, 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. So the last error shall be worse
than the first. Pilate said unto them, you have a watch. Go your
way and make it as sure as you can. Just go ahead and take a
watch. Go ahead. So they went and made the sepulchre
sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. Oh my, the devices of wicked
men. But you know, God can use the
devices of wicked men to glorify him. He can. We're taught this by
the conduct of the priests and the Pharisees after he was buried.
These unhappy religious men, they remembered what he said.
They remembered that he said, I'm gonna rise again. Look at
verse 63. After three days I will rise
again. They remembered that he said that. My oh my. You know, men thought they would
stop the resurrection of God here. Man thought they were going to
stop the resurrection of God. They said, we're going to make
it sure. We're going to set a guard there. And no one messes with
these guards. They're Roman guards. The people
ain't going to mess with them. Well, normally, no. That's right. But we're not talking about a
normal person here, are we? We're talking about God incarnated
in flesh. His body is buried in that tomb. And he said, after
three days, I'm going to rise again. Oh my. Oh. They didn't know who Christ was.
They had no clue who he was. So they went to Pilate. They
obtained a guard from him of Roman soldiers. They set a watch
over the tomb. And they did this so that they
could make the sepulcher sure, verse 66 says. So that they could
make it sure. But they really thought little
about what they were doing. They were actually providing
the most complete evidence of the truth of the resurrection.
That tomb is empty. So think of this. So not only
has a stone be rolled on, but there's been a seal set upon
it, and it's been made sure. They were making it impossible.
They didn't know, but they were making it impossible to prove
that there was any deception. And they had no idea. No idea
at all. They were just tools in the hand
of God. Their precautions were all to
become witnesses to the fact that Christ had risen from the
grave. That he did rise from the grave. He did it to them what is said
in, for the wisdom of the world is foolishness unto God. See,
these men thought, oh wow, we're going to do this. We're gonna
trap him in there, his body's in there. No disciples can come
and take his body. They didn't know who he was.
See, that's man's wisdom, right? But the man's wisdom is foolishness
to our great God. Absolute foolishness. For it
is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. He's
gonna do it right here, isn't he? He's gonna ensnare them in
their own craftiness. He's going to take what they
did to make it sure that people couldn't
lie about the resurrection. A Roman guard sealed up, and
I'll tell you what, no one messed with Roman guards in those days.
You'd die. They wouldn't even think twice
of putting a sword in you. My oh my. And the history of
the church is full of examples of similar kind. Sometimes things
look so bad for the church that it often turned out for the good. When the persecution arose because
of Stephen, what happened? It spread like wildfire, didn't
it? What happens when you stomp on a fire? There's a whole bunch of little
sparks that go all over the place, right? When the church was under
persecution, it's like somebody put a foot on top of a fire.
What happened? Poof! All according to God's purpose
and plan. How do we know that? Because
Peter wrote, remember, to the saints that were scattered in
Cappadocia, Bithynia, all over the place. And he wrote from
Babylon. My, oh, my. So it just scattered the church.
And the church spread like wildfire. What harm did imprisonment do
to Paul? He just kept writing, didn't
he? Read Philippians, that's called a prison epistle. Jim
was quoting it. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. He's writing that in prison,
beloved. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. My oh my. And then when he was under house
arrest, how many of those Roman soldiers heard the gospel? He's
even mentioned that there's some in Caesar's household who now
are part of the brethren. All according to God's prophecy.
See how God works? Man made it for evil, right?
They took Paul in prison to Rome. Man made it for evil. He was
even preached the gospel even more when he was in Rome. And when he was under house arrest,
he was allowed to have guests. Oh, my. So what does persecution
do to the people of God today? Well, it just draws us closer
to Christ, doesn't it? It just draws us closer to him
when people persecute us for our faith. It just draws us.
And the persecution we face is nothing compared to what some
folks are facing around. It's real to us, right? It's real to us, but people... Oh, you just read Foxe's Book
of Martyrs. That'll just... Incredible what the persecution
of God's people went through. But we go through it too, with
different things. But it always drives us nearer
to Christ. Persecution will cause the born-again, blood-washed
believer to seek refuge in He who is the refuge of our soul.
We flee to the city of refuge. Who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ.
He's our city of refuge. We flee to him during persecution. So take courage by these things. A dear saint of old was in prison
for heresy. His body was thrown into a pack
of wild dogs who ate him completely. But beloved, his soul was received
into glory. His soul was received into glory.
Man could do that to him, but they can't destroy the soul,
can they? Remember that. Man can destroy the body but
he can't destroy the soul. Oh my. So may we be patient when
we find ourselves in days of darkness and take comfort from
the very things that that seem to be working sometimes against
us are actually working for our good and for God's glory. And
we can just look at the world and see that, right? We don't
understand what's going on. But we trust in the Lord that
he's sovereign. He's going to work it all out for his will
and for our good too, it says. You know, I think the hardest
thing for us is just to rest in that, right? Just to stand
still, yeah. Paul says in Galatians, stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Don't
go forward, don't go backwards, just stand right there. And who
are we standing on? Christ, the solid rock, right?
That's who we stand in. We stand in and on Christ, don't
we? My oh my. My. And God can make the wrath
of man praise him, the scripture says in Psalm 76 10. He can. He can do it. One day, and I
mean that one day, every single knee, every single person that
ever was born on this earth will face Christ. And every single
knee will bow. Believers and unbelievers will
say that Christ is King. He's King. Worthy is the Lamb. Right? My. Every knee shall bow and
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The glory
of God the Father. That's everyone. My oh my. A great day coming,
isn't there? There's a great reckoning coming,
isn't there? Are you safe in the ark? Are you safe in Christ? Noah and his family were safe
from the wrath of God, weren't they, in the ark? Christ is our
ark of safety, isn't he? Are you safe in him right now?
Are you trusting him? Oh my. Cast yourself. He's the only hope, I'll tell
you that. Man, people tell you, no, it's okay to do this, it's
okay to do that. My hope is all wrapped up in
one person. The Lord Jesus Christ is yours. And because of God's grace, not
because of anything I've done, not because of anything in me,
I will one day hear the Lord say, Well done, my good and faithful
servant. Enter into the joy of thy rest. Isn't that amazing? But some
will hear, depart from me, you cursed, you workers of iniquity,
for I never knew you. My, my oh my. But you know the only reason?
Think of this too, beloved. The only reason? that we can rejoice, because
we should have been over there, right here in those same words,
right? But why don't we? Because He's
risen. He's risen. He accomplished what
the Father sent Him to do. Redeem His people from their
sins. Purchase us with His precious,
precious blood. Let's read Matthew 1, 28 to 10
again, what Brother Tom read there. Oh my, He died on the
cross. He was buried. He spent three
days in a tomb. And then He rose again, beloved,
just like He said He would. And that seal in those Roman
guards couldn't stop nothing. Who can stop the hand of the
Lord? Who can stop Him? No one. Praise God He had mercy
on us. Praise his mighty name, he had
mercy. In his love, he had mercy upon us. Look at this. In the
end of the Sabbath, it began to dawn toward the first day
of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the
scepticer. That's just the grave. And behold, there was a great
earthquake. Look at this. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone. The stone's gone!
The stone's been rolled back, beloved! Oh my! And this was a big stone. A stone from the sept door and
sat upon it. He's like, he rolled it away
and then he sat on top of it. Could you imagine? We can't even
fathom what an angel looks like. One angel, I believe they're
warriors, because one angel killed 100,000 men. To me, they're just probably decked out and I just
envision them with a sword and all that's just me though. But
however they are, I don't know, but I think that they're like
warriors. They take care of God's people
too, we know that. But here he is, he's rolled back
a stone, a mighty stone, and he's just sitting on it. That's
just an angel. That's just one of the Lord's
creations, the angel of the Lord. And he's sitting on a stone. My oh my. And what did the Lord
say? He said, I could call six legions
of angels. Peter put down the sword. I could
call 6,000 legions. That's 6,000 men in one legion. One angel killed 100,000 men,
you heard me say. He's basically saying, I could
call enough angels to destroy the whole world. Put your sword
down. I have to go to the cross. I
must. Why? Like we saw on Sunday school,
to redeem his people from their sins. Oh my. Look at this. And for fear of
him, or his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white
as snow. That being the angel. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and became his dead men. Now I'm telling you what,
these Roman soldiers, they're military men, they're strong
men. They've been in battles, they've seen things that we wouldn't
even want to see. My, I'm so thankful that God
in his providence has people serving the military to protect
us, because we don't know. We don't know. And here, these men, it says,
they're shaken. And then they become as dead
men. It takes a lot to make these
men shake. And here they are. They're so
afraid, they're like dead men. And they're not moving, are they?
They're not running. Do you notice that? What would
we do? We'd be gone, wouldn't we? They're
not running. They're held there in place.
And they are shaking. You know, they'd never forget
this. They'd probably tell their grandkids about this. Now they were told not to say
anything, but I guarantee you down the road they said stuff.
I was on watch one day, and this, I don't know what it was, this
guy come down, rolled this huge stone away, and I just sat there
frozen. I was so afraid. Now, maybe they didn't say a
whole lot, because they wouldn't want to admit that. I don't know.
But let's just leave it at that, right? Oh my. Look at this. And the angel answered and said
unto the woman, fear. Look at this. Look at this. Now,
look at the difference here. The world, represented by them
soldiers, right, are quaking with fear. They're so afraid,
they're like dead men. That's how people are going to
be when they see the Lord, right? It's no joke. It's no joke. He's the sovereign of the universe.
And so here they are like dead men. And look what the angel
says to the women. Fear not. What does God say to us in Christ?
Fear not. Fear not, my little flock. Oh, what a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Look at this, he says, he says,
fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified.
He's not here. He's not here. Do you imagine
what they thought of when he said that, when he said, well,
he's not here. Well, where'd he go? Where is he then? Well, he's
not here. For he is risen. He is risen,
beloved. He's risen. As he said, come
see the place where the Lord lay. He said, come and see where
they put him. Come and look. He's not there
anymore. He's gone. He's gone! Come see the place
where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell the disciples that,
look at this, again, He is risen. He's not dead. See, all the religions
of the world, you can trace back to a man in the grave, right? He's gone. He who claimed to be God was
God. He who claimed to be that he'd rise again on the third
day, he rose again the third day. He's risen, beloved. He is risen. Oh, what wonderful words. The
grave couldn't hold him. You know why the grave couldn't
hold him? Because he's sinless. It's got
no claim on him. It's got no claim on him at all.
So, and he rose from the grave, right? And then went up to heaven,
right? So if the law had no claim on
him, does the law have any claim of those who are in him? I'm
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. In the life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. Galatians 2.20. So if Christ rose from the grave,
and He did, if Christ is seated on the right hand of the Father,
and He is, then we're going to soon be with Him, aren't we?
As soon as our pilgrimage here is done. And all that is time
too. We don't know the time, but we
know our time is in His hands, isn't it? He's got us. He's got
us. My, what a Savior. My, oh my. And it says, and they departed quickly from
the sepulcher with fear and great joy. They have a mixture of fear
and joy. Oh, it's not true of all believers.
A mixture of fear and joy. But he says, don't be afraid. And they did run to bring his
disciples word. And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail. And they
came and held him by the feet and worshiped him." Look at that.
What a wonderful savior. Then said Jesus unto them, be
not afraid. The angel says, fear not. Now here's the master saying,
be not afraid. That's comforting words for us,
isn't it? Be not afraid, my little sheep. My, oh my. Go tell my brethren
that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. So we
have set before us in this text the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ from the grave. All four writers bring this forth. how our Lord was crucified very,
very clearly, and very clearly describing His resurrection.
And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the crowning
proof that He has paid our sin debt. It's paid in full. All we owe to the law of God,
He pays it. And He's victorious. We serve
a victorious Savior, beloved. And he didn't need any of our
help either, did he? He did it all. He did it all. My oh my. Think of this, if he didn't rise
from the grave, we wouldn't rise. Because our ransom wouldn't be
paid, right? But he was raised for our justification.
Again, as I said in Sunday School, to show that God was satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. Think of this too, he overcame
our sins. Everything that God demanded
for our sins, he paid in full. I still marvel that the wrath
due me was poured out upon Christ. Oh my. And not just for me though,
for you who are believers too and for all the elect of all
the ages. And our sins, they were imputed
to him. He's sinless, dying on the cross, absolutely sinless.
Bearing the wrath of God in our place. In those precious words
he cried, remember one of the sayings, Father forgive them
for they know not what they do. In those triumphant words of
victory, it is finished. That's a cry of victory, beloved.
That's a cry of triumph. It's finished. Tim James one
time in a sermon I listened to, he brought forth, it's perfect. It's perfect. The sacrifice is
perfect. Nothing for us to do, beloved,
but look and live. And that comes from God's grace
too, doesn't it? It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Oh my, he extinguished the wrath
of God against us, he overcame the justice of God, he overcame
the law of God, all in our place, beloved. He was delivered for
our offenses and he was raised again for our justification,
it says in Romans 4.25. That's good news for sinners,
isn't it? My, oh my. The first point I'd like to look
at from this text is in verse 2. the glory and majesty with
which Christ rose from the dead. What glory, what majesty is on
display here. The power of God is on display
here. 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 from the door
and sat upon it. A great earthquake and the angel
of the Lord descended from heaven Now, our Lord and Savior, God
in the flesh, he didn't need the help of any angel, did he?
No. But he rose again, and God sent
down an angel, the angel of the Lord, to roll back the stone. Please, God, that his resurrection
will be followed by signs and wonders, a great earthquake,
and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven. He's conquered sin and death
for us. Death doesn't have a sting it
used to, does it? We die, we go right to glory. My, oh my. My, oh my. Turn if you were to
1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians, a glorious angel
was a witness of his rising. He rose with a renewed body.
And yet a body, real, true. When we rise from the dead, we'll
rise with a new body. We'll get a new body. No pain,
no suffering, no more sore backs. Right? None. We'll be sinless in glory. I
think that'll be the most marvel for us, is the fact that sin
won't bother us anymore. Who's our worst enemy? Our flesh,
right? Our flesh. My, oh, my. Look at this in 1 Corinthians.
Let us wait patiently for this glorious resurrection. Certain verse 51, we'll read
the verse 58. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed. All of us. All of us will be
changed. In a moment, in a twinkle of an eye, at the last trump. Now the last trump is the last
trump. It's the great day of reckoning.
We're going to see when the corruptible and the incorruptible will be
raised. In a moment, in a twinkle of eye, at the last trump, for
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible, that being
our body, must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, that means that's a sinless body,
right? And this mortal shall put on
immortality, then shall be bought the past, the saying that is
written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is
thy sting? Where's the sting, death? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
Well, the law has been fulfilled though by Christ, right? But
thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye 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. What we do for the Lord is not
in vain, beloved. Point number two, the terror
which Christ's enemies felt at the period of his resurrection.
Look at verse, we'll read verses two to four to get the context
of this. And behold, there was a great
earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon
it. His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow. No spots on it, pure white. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and became as dead men." Now again, these Roman
soldiers, they were professional soldiers. Tom Eustace said one
time, they were really the first professional soldiers in the
world in that sense, because everybody else before that just
took from nobles and all that. They were professional soldiers.
That's what they did. They signed up for, oh, I think
it was 30 year when they signed up or something. It was a long
period of time. I'd been 15, but they signed up for a long
period of time. And some soldiers would actually retire in their
60s and have service from when they were 18 years old. So like
Tom said, they were professional soldiers. That's what they did. That's what they did. They were
soldiers. And look at there. They're used to dreadful sights. They're
seasoned soldiers. And now they see a sight that
made their courage melt like wax. Melt like wax. It was the appearance
of one angel. Not a legion of them. One. And their courage just melted. And it says here, and for fear
of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men. My, this is the type of thing. This is the type of things to
come. What will the ungodly and wicked do the last day when they
face the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? They will melt like wax. They'll have nothing to say.
Allah will find them guilty. And they'll be cast into hell. My oh my. That great white throne. that great white throne of judgment.
And the only thing that makes God's people differ from the
sheep from the goats is the grace of God. And we're say faithful as just
as your ways, Lord. My oh my. What will they do when they see
the dead coming forth from their graves and assemble around the
great white throne? What fears and terrors will possess
the ungodly when they must at last meet God Almighty face to
face in their sins? What terror! This is just an angel these men
are seeing. It's not God Almighty. What terror will sinners see? when they face God Almighty. Oh, that men would remember that
there is a resurrection and there is a judgment and there is such
a thing as the wrath of the Lamb. See, the Lamb came in mercy,
didn't He? He came in mercy, beloved. Revelation
says this, And the kings of the earth and the great men and rich
men and 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 and rocks, fall
on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb. He's no one to trifle with, is
he? For that great day of his wrath
has come, and who shall be able to stand? Who shall be able to
say, hey, you know what, God, I don't agree with that? Poof. Off into everlasting torment. My, fountains open, eh? There's a fountain open right
now for sin and uncleanness, isn't there? There is a fountain
filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners
plunge beneath that flood. Why, lose all the guilty stains,
beloved, all of them. So much so that God looks on
the believer and says, I don't even see your sin. Washed in the precious, precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. Now let's look at here. Now let's look at these words
of comfort. Point number three is, let's look at these words
of comfort, which the angel addressed to the friends of Christ. This
is wonderful. Now, anyone asks one of the elect
of God, and we'll just tell you we are sinners saved by the grace
of God. We don't deserve the salvation, right? We don't merit
the salvation, but God saved us. And we rejoice. And we marvel, we marvel that
He saved us. We know what we are, we know
who we are. We even know how much we sin after
we've been saved, right? I was talking to a fella again
this week, and I looked at him, I said, you know you're just
a sinner, right? It was last week, I said, you know you're
just a sinner, right? Well, you know, these people
here, they're going to be judged for their adultery and all this
stuff. And I said, you're no better
than them, and neither am I. He kind of looked at me and got
a little smile, and he said, yeah, you're right. See, we can
get to the point where we can start to look at others in self-righteousness. That ought never to be so for
us. We're saved by God's grace. We're saved by God's mercy. And
the only one who made me to differ from my brothers who don't know
the Lord and my friends and my family who don't know the Lord
is Christ. That's it. Now, do I pray for them all the
time? Please, God, save them. Be your will. You do too, right?
We pray for our loved ones. There's a fountain open right
now. It's open. Oh, my. And it's Christ Jesus
our Lord. It's Christ Jesus our Lord. Look
at these words of comfort now. Verses five to eight. And the
angel answered and said unto the woman, fear not, fear not
ye, don't be afraid. That's wonderful. And notice it said unto the woman,
didn't say it unto the guards, said it unto the women. Those
guards are trembling. Their hearts are melting like
wax. They got no courage left. And then he says to these women
who are probably trembling, Fear not ye. What did David say
to Mephibosheth? Mephibosheth, I'm just a dead
dog. Fear not, Mephibosheth. That's what God says to us, to
sinners in Christ. Don't be afraid. My justice has been satisfied.
The wrath of the Lamb's been satisfied. Now think of this.
We just looked at that they hide their faces from the wrath of
the Lamb. Who's the one who satisfied the wrath of the Lamb for us?
The Lamb. My, oh my. Just gets deeper and
deeper and deeper, doesn't it, beloved? becomes more wonderful
and more wonderful and more wonderful. The fact that we're saved from
our sins, saved from the wrath of God, saved out from under
the law, redeemed from out from under the law, it's wonderful. Fear not ye, for I know that
you seek Jesus, which was crucified. He wasn't there for asking questions. No, he already knew where Christ
was. He says, he's not here. Again, can you imagine that they'd
be startled with that? He's not here, for he is risen. And he said, come see the place
where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he
is risen again, second time, from the dead. He's not in the
grave anymore and he's risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you
in the Galilee, And there shall you see him, lo, I have told
you. And he departed quickly from
the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his
disciples. My, oh, my. How these words cheer
our hearts. Fear, fear not. He's arisen. The tomb's empty. He's not here. He did what he said he would
do. He's God. And he's not here anymore. He's gone. What a Savior. Beloved, what
a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. And what does this teach
us? This teaches us that true Christians
have no cause for alarm, whatever may come in this world. Why? Because he's risen. How can I quench fear when I
see things on TV or see things happening in the world? He's
risen, and I'm going to be with him by his grace and his mercy.
My time on this earth is just a little vapor. So is yours. Just a little vapor. We'll get taken to heaven and
if the Lord tarries, we don't know when he's coming back, if
he tarries after we die, then there'll be some more stuff going
on in the world. And then our fellow brethren will be going,
he's risen. And people go, why aren't you
afraid about things going on in the world? My hope is in Christ. My hope's not in things in this
world. My hope's in the risen Savior. Because He lives, I'm
going to live. He redeemed me. Oh my. And the Lord's going to appear
in clouds of heaven, and the earth shall be burned up. I'll
tell you what. And all the graves are going to open. This is going
to happen. The Lord, sure as the sun rises, the Lord's coming
back. I don't have any idea when, but He is coming back. Now, I
may go home to Goli before that. But if you or I don't go home
to Goli before that, if we're still alive and it's coming,
we'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye, just like that. Wouldn't
that be wonderful? And then the dead in Christ shall
rise, and then all the... everyone. And there'll be the
great white judgment throne. It'll be all over. And when's
that going to happen? When the last sheep is saved.
Right? Roll it all up. Roll it all up. It's all going to burn up. My, oh, my. Some people say,
well, when you think about that, then you have no care of the
world or anything. No, we're good stewards. Right? But it is going to all burn up.
And you ever think of this? This is something that's amazed
me. Something I've thought about. I think I mentioned it once in
another sermon, but think of this. This world, we have this
world that we live on, right? Okay. Trees have grown since
creation, right? And trees have died, and more
trees come by, and animals have to die, right? You ever notice
we always have what we need? We got so much wood in this world
to build things. Stones. Neil told me that on
the farm there, he doesn't even have to dig stones up, they just
start popping up. Because the earth moves them
up. Each year. But think of this, this world
has sustained us for 6,000 years now, and it's still going. It's still going, still producing
food. Still growing trees this earth? It's all because of God's providence. It's all because of His providence.
My oh my. So there are things in this world
that occur and makes believers afraid because
we're just flesh, right? But let us rejoice that we're
clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and because he lives,
we'll live. Because he rose, we're going to rise. And the Lord says this, When
these things begin to come to pass, lift up thy heads, for
your redemption draweth nigh. Just keep looking up, beloved.
It's when we look down we get in trouble. Just keep looking
up. Just keep looking to Christ. And at that day, the wicked shall
see how true was the word in Psalm 33, 12. Blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen
for his own inheritance. Chosen by the grace and mercy
of God. Amazing. The last point I'd like to bring
and finish with is the gracious message which the Lord sends
the disciples after his resurrection. Look at verses nine and 10. And
as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying,
all hail. And they came and held him by
the foot and worshiped him. Then said Jesus unto them, be
not afraid. Go and tell my brethren that
they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. Be not, now
this is the master saying this now, be not afraid. He says that
to every one of us as Christians, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid
of what's going on in the world. Don't be afraid of anything that
can happen. He's the ruler of it all, right?
And if we find ourselves in persecution, God will give us grace to go
through that, right? Just like Jim used to say when
somebody asked him, well, when will I get dying grace? And he
said, when you're dying, right? We don't need it now, but when
we're dying, we will. And we see people going through
things and God giving them grace, right? Saw our dear sister Kathy
go through all that. The grace that Lord gave her
is amazing. And I see it with Dan, too. It's
amazing. With all of you. In different things going on
in your lives, God gives grace, doesn't he? He gives us grace
when we need it. He said, my grace is sufficient
for you. Now there's some things I've asked the Lord, please take
that away. And he said, no. I've learned now that his grace
is sufficient for me. That no matter what, his grace
is always sufficient. And I'm still learning that,
right? I'm still learning that, beloved.
So what mercy we see here? There's depths of mercy in here. Be not afraid, go tell my brethren
that they go into Galilee and they shall see me. They will,
there's no doubt. That little word shall means
shall. They will see me, there's no doubt. He's not saying, well,
maybe I'll arrive there. No, they're gonna see me. And
I love those words. Fear not, be not afraid. I love
those words, beloved. Because again, look at one angel
and those soldiers melted like wax. Their courage was gone.
And yet the God of the earth, this is God in the flesh saying,
don't be afraid. God says to us, fear not in Christ. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid
for your soul, because it's already been purchased. It's redeemed. Do you know our salvation is
sure in Christ? We may doubt sometimes. We may
lack assurance sometimes. Doesn't change the fact that
Christ has saved us. Right? We're his. He says in Isaiah,
thou art mine. God says that about his people.
I'm not going to get over that, are you? What a savior. And the Father
sent Christ to die to redeem us. And the fact that God is
satisfied with that, he says, the angel says, he's not here.
He's risen. Where'd he go? Where'd he go?
Well, if he's risen, where'd he go? Go to the top of a mountain? No. Remember, they were looking
for, guys came to Elijah and said, Elijah, and they said,
can we send out guys to go find Elijah? Maybe he's on top of
a mountain or something. God took him up. Elijah's like,
don't send the guys, and they still sent people. See, man,
just our unbelief is such a plague. But he's risen. He's in glory. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father. Scripture says he's now interceding
for us. And he says, I go and prepare
a place for who? For you. That where I may be,
you may be there also. He's risen, and because he's
risen, we're gonna rise from the grave, beloved. And we're
gonna spend eternity, forever, with our Savior. All because
of his mercy and of his grace. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason. No other reason at all. Up from
the grave he arose! Right? He arose with a mighty
triumph over his foes. He's victorious, beloved. He
shall not fail, and he didn't. It is finished. And then rose
again for our justification. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise his name. Heavenly Father, oh, we come before thee. We are
but sinners saved by thy grace and by thy mercy. We are so thankful.
So thankful for your mercy. So thankful for salvation's plan. Thankful that you included us
in that great number that you gave to your son. And thankful,
Lord Jesus, that you redeemed us. Oh, what a great cost that
you gave your life for us. You who were absolutely sinless,
spotless, gave your life for sinners, the just one dying for
the unjust. But that's not the end of the
story, is it, Lord? Because you've risen. And we
are so thankful, so thankful to praise you, the risen Savior.
And one day, by thy mercy and by thy grace, we will be blessed,
we who are your people will be blessed to see you face to face. Glory to your name and honor