Just as we're turning to that
passage, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you
once again for your hospitality, generosity, kindness and love. It's been a real pleasure and
a joy to be back with you again. We consider you a second family,
and it is so good to be in the company of those both that we
have natural affections for, but also amongst whom we feel
united in the body of Christ. And it has been a real pleasure
I feel a little bit like the Queen of Sheba when she came. She said, the half had not been
told. Well, we went back and told our family in the UK about
how good it was over here. And they said, oh, we don't believe
you. We're going to have to come and see for ourselves. So now
they know they've been here and they've seen it too. So thank
you once again for all your kindness. We're going to read Matthew chapter
28, beginning in verse 1. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there
was a great earthquake, 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. And for fear of him, the keepers
did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and
said unto the woman, 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 go quickly
and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you
into Galilee. There shall ye see him, lo, I
have told you. And they departed quickly from
the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and 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 worshipped him. Then said
Jesus unto them, Be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they
go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now when they were
going, behold, some of the watch came into the city and showed
unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when
they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel,
they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his
disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. And
if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and
secure you. So they took the money and did
as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported
among the Jews until this day. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. Let's pray together. Almighty God, we approach Thee
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we dare not come
into Thy presence upon any other ground than the completed work
of our Saviour. If we bring anything before Thee
of the flesh, anything before Thee of self, we know that there
is no good thing in us. and thou art of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. And therefore we plead the efficacious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We plead the perfect righteousness
of our Saviour. We come unto thee upon the ground
of that which he has done in the atonement. And we believe
this morning that thou art pleased to receive such who come unto
thee, covered in the blood of the Lamb of God. And so we come
with confidence. Indeed, we come with boldness. We enter into thy presence and
we seek thy face. We seek to honour thee and worship
thee with our thoughts, with our praise, with our prayers,
with our meditation upon thy word. And we ask that thou wilt
be honoured and glorified as we, thy weak and poor creatures,
seek to do thee service in this way. As we gather we ask that
thou wilt speak and we will hear, that thou wilt move amongst us
and we will be touched even in the very souls and in our being,
and that we will have cause to rejoice that gratitude and thanksgiving
will be unto thee this morning as we are reminded of what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done and accomplished for his people.
And as we look to that cross this morning, we pray that we
will see that the work has been done there, which God himself
in the person of Jesus Christ has loudly declared to be a finished
work. And therefore, we do not bring
ourselves before thee, save in the context of that great sacrifice. And we pray that thou won't receive
us upon the merits of Jesus Christ alone. We ask that this little
service this morning will be blessed and honoured by thee,
that the witness here born, that the preaching of the gospel will
redound to thy glory in the hearts of these gathered. and in the
life of this town and community. We believe this is a spiritual
activity upon which we are embarked and we believe it has spiritual
consequences far beyond that which happens immediately here.
The stone in the pool ripples outward for much distance. And we pray that there will be
a ripple effect even from this gathering this morning that will
touch the lives of men and women for many days to come in this
place and beyond. Take glory to thy name for the
fellowship that thou hast bestowed upon thy people, for the love
and affection that we can share together. And may this be just
one more occasion in which we have the honour and the privilege
of seeing the hand of God at work in the person of Jesus Christ
and in the power of the gospel. May it be so for thy name's sake.
Amen. My thoughts this morning are
going to be centred upon the sixth verse of Matthew chapter
28. It is the words of the angel as
he spoke to the Marys, the women who gathered at the tomb of the
Lord Jesus. The angel said, he is not here,
for he is risen. As he said, come see the place
where the Lord lay. I think it is fair to say that
the gospel and the language of the gospel, we sometimes call
it the language of Zion, but the gospel The vocabulary that
we use, the words that we use in preaching the gospel have
become increasingly unfamiliar to people today. And sometimes
when we are speaking to people who are not familiar with the
Scriptures, not familiar with church, One can see a glaze coming
over their eyes when we use words which they have not heard and
are not widely used. It's a sad state of affairs. There would have been a time
in this country, as I'm sure also in my country, when children
would have been taught the Scriptures, they would have known the stories
of the Bible, they would have known something of the language
of the Bible. Atonement, salvation, justification,
surety, redemption, gospel, are words which nowadays many people
never hear spoken except in the context of a service like this. I make no apology for those words. Those are important, precious
words. They are the currency of our
preaching. They are the words that the Lord
used, that his apostles used, that the disciples used. They
are the words that the church has been familiar with for generations,
and they contain profound and significant meaning. for the
people of our day and of our age. And it is the preacher's
job both to use those words and to explain those words and to
apply those words to their hearers. Nevertheless, I am struck by
the simplicity of the angel's words in announcing the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not here. He is risen. As he said, come,
see the place where the Lord lay. I'm not sure if in that
sentence there are words that have got more than two syllables.
One-syllable words is what this angel spoke. There was such clarity,
such simplicity in the words that were used, and I have no
excuse if I make preaching the gospel too hard for anyone to
understand. We are dealing with profound
truths, but we should be speaking to the simplest amongst us. The way of holiness may be travelled
by old and young alike. It is to be received by those
who are rich and those who are poor, by those who are educated
and those who are otherwise able to approach the Lord Jesus with
simple trust and faith in the living Saviour. And it is that
living Saviour that I want us to focus upon this morning. The theme of our thoughts is
simply this, He is risen. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ from the dead is central and crucial to the gospel. It was for the apostles and it
should be for us. Very often in the ministry of
the early church we see the theme that comes through is the fact
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This was their testimony,
this was their witness, this was the message that they carried
and they return repeatedly to the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ is risen. Death is defeated. Salvation is come by the risen
Lord. Turn with me please to Acts chapter
2. I just want to read a few verses
there to show you the emphasis that the apostles placed upon
this resurrection. Acts chapter 2 and verse 22. Amen of Israel. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain. whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. For David speaketh concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on
my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh
shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me speak
freely, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day. Therefore, being a prophet and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne. He, seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by
the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which
ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
down on my right hand. And so here we see the testimony
of the apostles coming to the fore constantly. The fact that
this message that they proclaimed was the message of the risen
Lord. Indeed, what we discover is that
the message of the resurrection was so prevalent amongst the
apostles that it became the source of much opposition to their testimony. They were mocked. They were laughed
at and ridiculed because they preached the resurrection of
the body. In Acts chapter 17, for example,
and verse 18, we're told that certain of the philosophers of
the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him. That's Paul.
And some said, what will this babbler say? They thought that
someone who preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection
was a Babylon. Now, you listen to the babies,
and they don't have proper language. They can't speak properly. And
there's a Babylon. It's a mixture of language, it's
incomprehensible, it's not understandable. And people were saying, this
is what we perceive these men are doing, they're babbling.
What will this babbler say? Some say, he seemeth to be the
setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them
Jesus and the resurrection. Other people, when they encountered
this ministry, they brought persecution upon the disciples because they
preached the gospel of the resurrection of Christ. And in Acts chapter
4 verse 2 we read, being grieved that they taught the people and
preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead, they persecuted
the apostles. And yet, it was this very fact
that justified everything that the apostles experienced and
endured. The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy
in the second letter, chapter 2, verse 8 says, Remember that
Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according
to my gospel wherein I suffered trouble as an evildoer, even
unto bonds. but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things
for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." The Lord's people,
the elect of God, that chosen people that he had called through
the preaching of the gospel Because they know that Jesus Christ is
risen. Because they believe that Jesus
Christ is alive. Because they have a relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. They can endure anything. Anything
in this world that comes upon the Lord's people can be endured. Because they know Jesus Christ
is risen from the dead. And the fact that He has risen
is the testimony, it's the firstfruits, it's the foretaste, it's the
promise that they too will experience that resurrection. We've had
the privilege, dare I say it, of laying a sister in the earth
in recent days. But we lay her there in the sure
knowledge of the resurrection. We know that her body will rise
and we know that when it comes to our turn, our bodies will
rise too. Those who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, our bodies will rise as Christ's rose and we
will be forever with Him. Therefore, with great power,
gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They took this message and they
ran with it as hard and as fast as they possibly could. This
is the difference, this is the change. They preached the resurrection
and great grace was upon them all. With great enthusiasm, with
great enabling, with great attendant mercy, the power of the gospel
went forth and it was enthused and enlivened by the fact of
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rightly Rightly, we stress the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a little while, we're going
to be sharing together in the communion of his death. The death
of the Lord Jesus Christ is central and important, but the fact that
Christ died and rose again is the power of our message. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
simply a history. He is not simply a narrative
that we can live our lives fulsomely if we follow the pattern that
he set. He is not just an example, but
the Gospel, far from being a doctrine or a scheme of theology that
we are to learn, is a relationship with a living person. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is to be known, and is to be received, and is
to be experienced, and is to be enjoyed, and He is alive. What I want to do this morning
for just a few minutes, as the Lord enables, is to consider
some of the lessons and the consequences of the resurrection that we have
in Holy Scripture. We cannot overstate the importance
of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is alive today. Matthew chapter
26 and verse 6, the verse in our attention says this, He is
not here, He is risen. Come see the place where the
Lord lay. Let me just take a couple of
things, if I may. I want to think about, first
of all, some of the facts of the resurrection. There was,
at the attendance of this resurrection of the Lord Jesus, angels. And we see in verse 2 of chapter
28, Behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of
the Lord descended from heaven. Here we see that it was a powerful
event, the resurrection. The angel of the Lord descended
for heaven. He came, he rolled back this
stone from the door of the tomb, and he sat on it. You know, we
sometimes see pictures of the cemetery or the garden where
the tomb was, or we have a picture, an image of it in our minds,
and usually it's a very still place, and perhaps it's misty
and atmospheric. Well, it was a noisy place. It wasn't a still, quiet place
that morning. There was a great earthquake
in the garden at that time, and the angel of the Lord came down. Have you ever wondered why the
angel of the Lord came? Why did the angel come? The Lord
Jesus Christ was risen. Was he not, in the power of the
resurrection, able to burst that stone open? Could he not have
with his power actually destroyed the fabric of the whole tomb
and burst it like some superhero does on a film? Why did the angel
have to come? Let me tell you why. Because
Christ's work was finished. They sent assistants from heaven
to honour the King of all eternity, because Jesus Christ had done
all the work that he was required to do. Now it was the angels
who would exercise themselves, and they would push away the
stone for their appearing sovereign. The Lord Jesus Christ's work
was done. He had defeated death. Prison
could not hold him. The very earth, the very earth,
this globe shook when Jesus Christ came to life. It was enough to
open the doors of all the tombs that were in the garden. but
not the Lord Jesus Christ's. An angel came from heaven to
open that tomb. In Matthew 27, we read in verse
52, the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which
slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection
and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. What a scene
that must have been. These bodies. The doors of their
tombs are open and these bodies rise up. Perhaps they have been
there for many years. And they look out into the dimness
of that garden and they rise from their place of sleep and
they walk into Jerusalem. And there they are seen of many
people. This was an event. This was an
event of amazing proportions that happened that day. The angels came. and they bore
witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In Isaiah chapter
26 and verse 19 we read, Thy dead men shall live. Together
with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead. The Lord's people are numbered
amongst these who rise with the Lord Jesus Christ. That earth
can't hold the body of our sister. It can't hold her. And it can't
hold our bodies either. Because we are in Christ and
the very earth has to put forth the body of the Lord Jesus Christ
and all those who are in it. The other thing that we notice
about the angel is this. The angel sat upon the stone. Why did he sit upon that stone? Well, I'll tell you what I think.
Boys, listen to this. That angel sat upon the stone
to challenge those soldiers to a fight. He was saying to those
soldiers, right, I've moved this stone. Why were the soldiers
there? They were there to defend that grave against anyone coming
and touching it. They were there to make sure
that body stayed where it was. What did the angel do? He pushed
the stone out the road and he sat on it and he said, come on,
come on. Who's going to deal with me?
Who's going to stop me doing what I'm doing? These soldiers
were terrified. They were there to guard the
tomb, but it proved to be a hopeless thing for them to try and do. And the angel came to await the
coming of the women. There's something lovely about
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared first to these
women. And first to Mary, Mary Magdalene. Oh, she loved the Lord Jesus
Christ. She longed for him. She was up
early in the morning. She had been there at the cross
when others had fled. She was there standing at the
foot of the cross. She had not let the Lord Jesus
Christ out of her sight as long as she possibly could. She had
watched where they laid Him. She had been up while it was
still dark, while most people were sleeping, and she had been
preparing those spices. She wanted to do what she could
for the Lord, how she loved Him. She would protect and tend his
body if she could. That was why she was there that
morning. She had no more grasp of the
resurrection than the disciples had at that time. They had been
told, they had been appraised of the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ would rise from the dead, but she went wondering Who was
going to move the stone that she might be able to go in and
tend and touch and prepare that dead body? It was this affection
that she had for him. And in John chapter 20, verse
15, we see what happened when she realized that the stone was
moved and the body was gone. She encountered a man there in
the garden, and this is what she says. Supposing him to be
the gardener, she saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. There was Mary, coming to look
after the body of the Lord. She says to the gardener, if
you've taken him away, tell me where you've laid him and I will
take him away. I don't know how Mary expected
to lift the Lord's body and carry it away. I don't know what she
thought she was going to do if the gardener had said, oh, he's
been put over there. Do you know what? That didn't
matter. She owned that body. She wanted that body. She wanted
to tend that body, to care for that body, to do whatever she
could out of the love that she has. I despise the way in which
men and women today are taught what they should do and what
they shouldn't do under the auspices of religion. I detest the way
in which people are corralled and badgered and blackmailed
in order to live good lives and do good works. You know what
the true essence of obedience to Christ is? This woman's affection. This woman's affection is the
greatest testimony that any man or woman can ever have about
how we should live our lives. Show me where his body is and
I'll take it away. It was beyond her ability to
carry away the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ. But was that
going to stop her trying? not a bit of it. And there she
stood, oh the loveliness of Christ, the blessedness of the Saviour
in coming to that dear woman who loved him so much and expressing
and speaking to her in the way that she did, or he did. Her love for the Lord, the way
in which he was ready to do anything for him, puts us to shame. Any trouble was no trouble for
the Lord Jesus Christ. To be in His presence was all
that she desired. To be with Him thrilled her,
and His absence was her loss. Mary for the love came early,
she came earnestly, and with her whole heart she sought after
the Lord Jesus Christ at any cost. May her example be an example
to us. And there's an empty tomb. He
is not here. Come see the place. Look for
yourself. There's a tenderness and empathy
in the words of the angel as he spoke to Mary. There was a
gentleness. He had moved the stone. He had
demonstrated his power. He had warned those soldiers
not to become involved, not to try and apprehend these women
who were gathering at the tomb. and yet there was a tenderness
towards those women. He was a messenger from God and
I think there's a nice little picture in here for those who
preach the gospel. There has to be a strength in
our approach. We have to defend, we have to
exercise ourselves sometimes with some boldness and certainly
with courage when it comes to facing down the enemies of the
church and the enemies of the Lord's people. Mary needed to
be defended against these soldiers. Coming to that dark garden in
the early hours of the morning, these soldiers having been there
charged with the defense of this tomb, it may well have been a
dangerous place for this woman and yet the angels protected
her. And yet he spoke gently and tenderly
to her. And so the preacher of the gospel,
the minister of the gospel, as he represents the Lord Jesus
Christ is to be bold and courageous in his ministrations, but gentle
and tender to the Lord's people as he cares for them as the sheep
in his charge. It was an empty tomb. see the
empty tomb. No grave floats, no dark hole
in the ground. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 55, we read, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where
is thy victory? The grave holds no fear for those
who follow Christ. Death has no power over those
who are his. We've also encountered or experienced
a baptism this week. When we were baptized, were we
afraid? Were we afraid of those waters
when we went in? No, we weren't afraid. We knew
there was an arm around us. There was a hand holding us.
We know what water is. You're under and you're up. It's
not something to be frightened. It's something to be enjoyed.
It is a witness to be attested to. But yet that is the picture
of death. And that is what we will all
be like in our death. It is a picture of dying in the
Lord. And when we lay down these bodies,
we will go under and we're up. That's it. It's over. There is
no fear in death for those who are baptized into Christ. And
we will enjoy the blessedness even of that experience in knowing
that we will soon be in the presence of our Saviour and that for all
eternity. Death has no power. We are supported
by the arm and the strength of Christ even when we enter into
our own death and our own grave. We spoke of the Christian's pathway
a little earlier. We described it as the way of
holiness. And that was a phrase from Isaiah
35 verse 8. We live a way and a walk that
is holy unto the Lord, because he is risen from the dead. How
shall we that are dead to sin in Christ live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death? Therefore 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 should
also walk in newness of life. We have that new life. in Christ
because he is risen from the dead. It is not our works that
make us pure. It is not the badgering of others
that we should live a certain code or by some certain conduct,
but it is the righteous holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ our
possession in Him that makes us fit for the presence of God. The Lord is risen. Why seek ye
the living among the dead? The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore
and have the keys of hell and of death. Christ has secured
the victory. He has gained the prize. The
bride is His. Knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no dominion over him,
and as we are in him, it has no dominion over us. What a blessed looking forward
to we have as the Lord's people. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I just want to touch upon another
couple of things this morning. We've spoken about some of the
people and events surrounding the resurrection. But there is,
and there properly ought to be, an element of fear with respect
to the resurrection. In Matthew 28, verse 4, we read
it earlier, we hear that the reaction of the soldiers present
that morning was this. For fear of him, that is the
angel, the keepers did shake and became as dead men." The
resurrection changes everything. The fact that Jesus Christ rose
from the dead changes everything. They talk about a game changer.
Well, that was a game changer. And that is the reason why there
has been and continues to be so much opposition from this
world against the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus was
a good teacher, that's one thing, and he's one amongst many good
teachers. If Jesus gave an example, well,
that's one thing, and people can choose to follow that example
if they want to or not. But if Jesus Christ rose from
the dead, that changes everything. And the fact that he did means
that the world ought to fear. It ought to fear as these men
feared. They ought to become as dead
men in the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For it speaks
of the judgment that is to come. Because he hath appointed a day,
we are told in Acts 17, in the which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he raised him
from the dead. The resurrection is the assurance
that this world has that it will be judged for its sin and its
conduct. And the world must deny. It must
deny the resurrection. It must contradict the testimony
of the apostles. It must refuse the resurrection
of Jesus Christ because the implications of His resurrection are so horrendous. for them to contemplate. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath
no power. But the fearful, the unbelieving,
the abominable, and murderers, and warmongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death." There ought to be a fear in the context of the resurrection. And there's a faith to be found
in the resurrection. The Lord's people have hope because
they trust that Jesus Christ is alive. With Martha, that sister
of Lazarus, hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ when he
says, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. We are all dead
in sin. We are dead in sin and we are
all incapable of bringing ourselves to life spiritually. But the Lord Jesus Christ, by
his sacrifice and by his death, has won life for his people. He has raised his people, those
for whom he died. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die for everyone in this world. He died for his chosen people. He died for those that had been
committed into his care. He died for those that He was
substitute and representative for, and they died in Him. And when He rose again, they
rose in Him. And by the preaching of the Gospel,
they are brought into that experience of the newness of life that Jesus
Christ has already accomplished. We are dead in sin, but we are
alive in Christ, who is risen from the dead. Listen to what
Paul says to the Ephesians in chapter 2. But God, 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. By grace
ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What is it to experience? What is it to receive that life? It is to be brought, by the grace
of God, through the preaching of the Gospel, by the gift of
faith which He gives, to see yourself as a sinner. It is to be brought to the Lord
Jesus Christ who alone is the saviour of sinners. It is to
see the cross and that work accomplished on the cross as the way of salvation. And it is to attest that that
empty tomb is proof that the Lord Jesus Christ has done all
and secured all for his people's deliverance. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that
God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And finally,
There is a future in this word of resurrection. There is a future,
a promise to Christ's people. God has both raised up the Lord
and also will raise up us by his own power. It is written,
I have not seen nor eared heard, neither hath it entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. That was true in the Old Testament
times, in a sense because there was a darkness over all that
the coming Messiah would accomplish. Insights, glimmers, glimpses
provided. But in the gospel we have the
revelation In the Gospel we see Jesus Christ dead and resurrected,
and we see it as the beginning of that unending blessedness
that is our portion who live together with Him. I know what there won't be in
heaven. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. There shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away. This is our future as we
trust in the risen Christ. And I know something or rather
someone who will be there to share that resurrection experience
with us. He, speaking of Stephen as he
gave up his life as the first martyr to the cause of Christ
in the early days of the church. He we read being full of the
Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory
of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said,
Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God. Here is the promise then to those
who trust in Christ. Here is the promise to those
who see that in the death of Jesus Christ is a completed work
for the salvation of our souls. Christ says to his people, I'm
going away but I'm coming back again. In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."
The angels said, He is risen. May that be our testimony and
our hope this morning that we have a share in that resurrection
life of Jesus Christ and that for all eternity. Amen.