Matthew Pt. 110- The Risen King

Turn in your Bible to Matthew 28.

It was August 2023 when I said turn in your Bible to Matthew

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. This is part 109, and we will

finish our series in the book of Matthew next week with part 110.

Pretty cool, right? Yeah, Check in the box.

Check in the box. Very satisfying.

And like I said, it's Resurrection Day, Matthew 28,

verse one. Now after the Sabbath, toward

the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the

other Mary went to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great

earthquake. For an Angel of the Lord

descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone and

sat on it. His appearance was like

lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead

men. But the Angel said to the women,

Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was

crucified. He is not here, for He is risen,

as He said. Come, see the place where He

lay. Then go quickly and tell His

disciples that He has risen from the dead.

And behold, He is going before you to Galilee.

There you will see him. See, I have told you.

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great

joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

And behold, Jesus met them and said greetings, and they came up

and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.

Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go and tell my

brothers to go to Galilee, and they will, and there they will

see me. While they were going, behold,

some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests

all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with

the elders and taken counsel, they gave sufficient sum of

money to the soldiers, and said, Tell people.

His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were

asleep. And if this comes to the

governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

So they took the money and did as they were directed.

And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

God, thank you so much for the passage of all passages, the one

that makes everything else true, the one that confirms all of

your word, the one that secures our past, present and future.

Jesus Christ, our risen King, the one who defeated death, the

one who was raised to reign forever, the one who we still

worship, not as a as a as a dead tradition, not as a dead

example, but as a living King. Jesus, be glorified today

through the preaching of Your Word and open up ears and hearts

and minds so that the application of Your Word would

be accurate, that it would be sharp, that it would divide

between the soul and spirit, that it would tear down the

works of the devil, and that it would build and plant Your

Kingdom in all of our hearts. I pray that You would save

sinners today. Those who are near the Kingdom,

bring them fully into it. Help them to recognize Your

love, help them to recognize Your judgment and help them to

enjoy Your restoration and resurrection for Saints God, I

pray that they would be stirred even more to carry the message

of the Kingdom, that they would be moved, that they would be

matured and that they would be empowered as your missionaries

in Jesus name, Amen. We have multiple ladies coming

to the tomb here. Matthew points out two in

particular, but between all the gospel writers, we have a

picture of at least four women who have come to the tomb

together this morning to prepare the body of Jesus.

So we know it was Mary Magdalene.

We know Mary the mother of James Salome were there.

Luke includes Joanna and he says that there were other women.

So we know that we've got 4 named women for sure, which

makes sense. This would have been a women for

job to do at this time to come and care for the body.

They may have run out of time on Friday night and then they

haven't come back. That they don't realize that the

tomb has been sealed by the Roman seal.

So the women didn't know that yet.

They've come in this, they're going to find that out.

They know there's a stone, but they don't know about the Roman

seal, which would have been illegal for them to break.

These women are not going to the tomb because they expect a

resurrection. Unfortunately, they're going to

the tomb to prepare a dead body. Still, they said, we still want

to finish preparing the Lord's body.

We still want to honor the Lord's body, but they're not

going. They didn't make Welcome Back

Jesus posters, and they weren't going to wait outside and go,

hey, we knew this was going to happen just like you said it

would over and over and over. Instead, they're going.

We're sad, we're mourning, we're grieving, and we're doing our

job. But they're going because they

love Jesus, so they're bringing spices.

They want to honor his body. They're moving toward Jesus,

which is more than we can say for the apostles.

It's more than we can say for the leaders of the New Testament

church. The disciples are behind locked

doors. Meanwhile, the women are walking

towards the tomb. The disciples are afraid of the

authorities. The apostles are afraid of the

authorities. And the women are going to serve

the crucified Lord. The women are not full of

perfect theology in this moment. They're not full of great faith

in this moment, but they are still walking out a more

faithful obedience and devotional love than the

apostles are. They're not seeking anything

except to care for Jesus. They're full of devotion.

They're not seeking influence or power.

They're seeking the Lord right away.

We can make a few points of application from this.

We can identify with different people in this passage and in

this scene. Some of you are disengaged like

the apostles, hiding, passive, afraid, withdrawn, or checked

out. You know enough truth to obey,

but perhaps fear or self-interest has made you live

too small. Others might be more obedient,

like the women, but you're weak in faith.

You're moving in the right direction, but you're still

expecting death. Where Jesus has promised life,

you're still serving him, but not still fully believing in the

full promises of God. God calls you to full obedience

grounded in faith in the risen Christ.

Another point we can draw from this is that you should not

build your faith on anyone except the Lord Jesus.

Aren't you so glad that the women didn't sit back and say,

well, the men aren't pursuing the Lord?

The men aren't going to go to his tomb.

They're hiding in secrecy. I guess we'll do what they do.

Aren't you thankful that they didn't follow church leadership

in this moment? What's your point, Pastor?

My point is that you should not rest your hope on anyone except

Jesus himself. You actually have to know

Christ, actually know him for yourself.

You actually have to love Him for yourself.

You should not rest your hope on anyone in the body of Christ.

You should not rest your hope on me or on your favorite minister.

That way, if all of us were to turn away from the Lord Jesus,

you would still be secure with your Saviour.

Well, I follow the Lord because everybody else follows the Lord.

Well then that's a dangerous place to be, because if everyone

stopped following the Lord, where would that leave you?

So we don't want to become prideful like Peter was at the

Last Supper. Lord, even if all fall away, I

still will. Well, that's not true at all

because Peter was trusting in himself.

But you've got to have the kind of devotion I used to when I was

a youth pastor. I would tell the teenagers, I

would say, I want you to have a Pakistan faith.

Meaning I want to make sure that you love the Lord so much that

if we dropped you in Pakistan, which is a hostile environment,

generally speaking, nations ending in Stan are not the best

places for for Christians historically.

But I wanted them to have this understanding.

It's not because you go to a strong church or your parents

are strong believers or all these other blessed advantages

that you have. Praise God and thank Him for all

of those. But what if we took all those

things away from you? Well, then I'll do whatever

everyone else is doing. Well then I wonder, do you even

have Christ now? Because if you wouldn't have

Christ, then I really wonder, do you have him now?

And that's the thing that every believer should be able to

identify. Do you have Christ?

Do you know Christ? And I don't intend to put any

insecurity on the secure, but the secure are secure and the

secure can go. I know Him.

I don't know about him. I haven't heard of him.

I know Christ. It's so often we see ministers

fall and then we've seen people fall away because of it.

Don't you know somebody who, if you were to ask them why they're

no longer following Christ, they would say it's because of all

the corruption they've seen in the church.

They've revealed who they were following.

They're like, I've tried all that.

I've been there, done that, Got the T-shirt, my friend.

Actually, no, you didn't. You were actually following a

cult of personality. You were following a minister,

but you weren't fault. You were following an under

shepherd, but you weren't following the chief shepherd.

If you were, you'd still be following him because he's

constant and he hasn't changed and He's done no wrong.

And if you were with him, you would have had compassion even

when your favorite minister fell.

But mature believers who have been walking with the Lord, you

hear about a minister who falls and what do you feel?

It breaks your heart, but in no and for not, not one second do

you think, Oh no, my whole faith, my whole foundation, I

better sit down. I can't tell you how many times

I've opened up an e-mail or a news article.

I've seen on social media a man that I loved and admired and had

made a legitimate impact in the Kingdom of God had fallen due to

adultery. Most of the time, adultery is

the main thing that I see. And I go, I grieve for him.

I grieve for his family. And then I pray for me because

I'm selfish like that. And I say, God keep me safe, God

protect me. God, please protect me.

I don't go. I could never.

You mean I could never? Of course I could.

Anyone could sin. Anyone on earth is capable of

committing any other sin that anyone else has ever committed

but for the grace of God, there go I.

So this fills us with compassion and it fills us with the fear of

God. But this is what it looks like

to build on Christ. Aren't you thankful that the

women didn't build on the apostles, but they actually

built on Christ? They said we're going to follow

Jesus. We're going to serve Jesus even

if others don't. That is a great example for all

of us. Now, after the Sabbath, toward

the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the

other Mary went to see the tomb. So remember, Friday night at

sunset, the Sabbath begins. We've got Nicodemus.

We've got others who are helping there at the tomb.

We've got Joseph of Arimathea. He gives up his tomb.

These are Pharisees. They are fully turning their

back on the Sanhedrin, on all the Jewish leadership.

Even in Jesus's death, they're going.

I'm all in on Jesus, which is like the worst time to get on

Team Jesus, You would think. You would think the best time

would be at the triumphal entry. Yeah, I'm with Jesus, too.

Oh, is that what the crowd likes?

We're done with Jesus. Yes, blessed is he who comes in

the name of the Lord, but they did it after he died.

That's when they said, now I'm going to be most loyal.

Now I'm going to be most faithful to him.

So on Friday night the Lord was set in the tomb.

On Saturday is when the Jewish leadership goes to Pilate and

they said, hey, we're worried because his disciples said that

or Jesus said that he would be raised from the dead.

But here's what we're worried. We're worried his disciples are

going to steal the body. So can you please take a Roman

guard? Pilot said you can have it.

So that's established. So the Roman guard shows up on

Saturday. They seal the tomb with clay,

with rope. They do all kinds of stuff to

seal the tomb. I mean, now it's Jesus is in big

trouble, right? Clay and rope and Roman guards.

Oh, no, what's next? How will, how will we ever break

free? So, of course, all this nonsense

has taken place. And now Sunday morning comes.

The women come on the first day of the week.

This is the third day in the way that we're keeping time.

Friday he died. Saturday he was in the tomb.

Sunday is the third day. Sunday is the day of his

resurrection. Rome sealed the tomb.

The guards stood watch, and behold, there was a great

earthquake, for an Angel of the Lord descended from heaven and

came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

The enemies of Jesus thought they had secured this situation,

but heaven was not nervous. 1 Angel comes down from heaven,

rolls the stone away and sits on it.

No big struggle, no mighty contest.

And I want to clarify, the stone was not rolled away so that

Jesus could get out. Jesus could get out of the tomb.

No, no matter what, Jesus had already exited the tomb at his

resurrection. How He can walk through stuff.

He has a glorified body and he walked through the wall when his

disciples are hiding locked away.

Later in the day, He could walk through stone.

He's the creator of all the things.

This is not complex or difficult for him.

It's funny to me how sometimes the things that people get

stumped on, they're like, you think a guy was swallowed by a

big fish and lived in it for three days and I'm like, you're

forgetting something. I believe that there is a God.

And because of that truth, everything else becomes super

easy. Like everything.

You really think that the sea was parted?

You're forgetting something, my friend.

I believe that there is a God. You really believe Jesus died

and was raised from the dead, My friend.

This is easy stuff for me. Simple stuff because I know the

God who does it all. The humanist has a hard time

with these things, but the believer doesn't.

Why? Because we believe.

That's what believers do. The stone was rolled away so

that witnesses could look in. The stone was rolled away for

us. Jesus did not need help escaping

death. Death needed to be exposed as

defeated. That's why the the Father

commanded for the stone to be rolled away.

What a privilege for this Angel and the couple of angels that

actually came down The the other Gospel accounts give us the full

story and you know, they're giving us different moments of

the story. The women woke up.

They see one Angel sitting on top of the stone and then

there's the other Angel was probably already in the tomb

because there's another passage that says they said come see

where he was laying. And then it says 1 was sitting

at his head. One was sitting where his feet

were. So again, as you read your

gospels, there's no contradictions.

There's just different parts of the story being told in

different ways. Some of the gospel authors, the

Holy Spirit had them become much more detailed and chronological.

Others were hitting other themes.

Matthew's hitting particular themes because Matthew's writing

to Jews and he wants to show them the the realities fulfilled

of the over and over and over. But think about the angels that

get sent, the angels who have been in the presence of God ever

since the angels were created, which we don't know when the

Lord created any of the angels, but they've been with him for a

long time. And the angels heard about this

great redemptive plan of God and they could not believe what they

were experiencing when the word of God went to earth and became

flesh. And the message is carried to

Mary to say, the Holy Spirit is going to over shadow you and you

are going to conceive a child miraculously as a virgin.

And the angels are going, this is wild because they understand

that God has just come inside the human flesh and they watch

his birth and they proclaim it and they preach it in the hills

to the shepherds. And they have watched the the

perfect life of Jesus and they watch the death of Jesus.

And they still, this is their master.

They know this is everybody's king.

They can't believe the way he's treated as he walks on the

earth. And they're going, Oh my

goodness, this is wild. And they're sitting there and

they watch him crucified. They comfort him in the garden

the night before he's crucified. They minister to him there.

They watch him crucified. And now they're waiting for the

resurrection. And the father turns to somebody

says, guess what? Guess what you get to do today?

And these angels are sent. They descend from heaven.

Does it say they just instantly appear?

It says they descend from heaven.

I think the text even implies that this is the cause for the

earthquake. We had a great earthquake at His

crucifixion. Now we have a great earthquake

at His resurrection. The Lord is showing that the

natural is preaching about the supernatural.

There's something mighty and magnificent happening here and

now the Angel gets to show up in all the glory of heaven.

Verse 3. His appearance was like

lightning, his clothing white as snow.

The closest I've ever seen a lightning flash is probably

about 50 yards away. Cloud to ground lightning that

feels real, real, real close. You know, 50 yards is 50 yards

close. For throwing baseball, No, for

lightning, yes. That's like I was almost hit, is

the way you tell that story. Like I was hit by lightning

practically. So what's the closest you've

ever seen lightning? Too close, right?

Any closeness of lightning was too close.

Whoa, That was too close. And I saw it.

His appearance is like lightning Consistently, constantly.

This is a powerful being. This is a terrifying heavenly

messenger. He comes with the brightness and

glory of heaven. Verse 4.

And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead

men. So this Angel sitting on top of

the stone, I got to imagine he's enjoying his job.

I got to imagine that he's delighting in this moment

because here we have all the might of Rome, the mightiest

army in the world, and they're there to make sure stuff is

secure. And the Angel comes down

flashing like lightning before them.

They fall on the ground like dead men.

And now he just sits. Imagine he's kicking his feet

and every now and then he just glares at him again.

In case they dare to move. They pretend to be dead men as

they tremble in fear, too afraid to move.

This is not the Angel from a greeting card.

Look at the contrast of what's taking place here.

Living soldiers become like corpses, the crucified Christ is

alive forevermore, the government is shaking, the Angel

is sitting, and the enemies of God are helpless.

Sounds like Psalm 2, doesn't it? I'm going to turn there.

You can join me. Psalm 2 fulfilled over and over

throughout this past week of Jesus's life.

Why do the Nation's rage and the People's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take

counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.

That's Jesus saying, let us burst their bonds apart and

castaway their cords from us. This is just like the the man

who had who plants the vineyard. He puts tenants in it.

He sends his son go collect from the vineyard, and they said,

we'll kill the son and take his inheritance.

Oh, how wrong you are. He who sits in the heavens

laughs. The Lord holds them in derision.

He will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his

fury, saying, As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy

hill. I will tell of the decree.

The Lord said to me, You are my Son today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, I will make the nation's your heritage and the

ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces

like a Potter's vessel. That's what Jesus is going to do

to the nations who disobey Him. That hasn't happened yet.

Part of this passage has been fulfilled, part is not.

He is coming back. You shall break them with a rod

of iron, and dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel.

Now, therefore, O kings, be wise.

Be warned, O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear,

and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry,

and you perish in the way, For His wrath is quickly kindled.

The blessed are all who take refuge in him.

He who sits in the heavens laughs.

I imagine that's what's happening in the scene.

The Father is laughing. The plan is fulfilled,

everything is forever settled. Rome posted their guards, the

priest plotted, Pilate washed his hands, the rulers raged.

Satan spent everything that he had, and heaven sends 2 angels.

And of course, nothing gets not the resurrection power of Jesus.

So this is the fear and the terror that the Angel is putting

into this Roman guard. But notice the transition when

the women arrive. But the Angel said to the women,

do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is

crucified. Notice the transition.

I imagine him scowling at the Romans, terrifying them on the

ground. And then the women woke up and

he goes, don't be afraid because he's a bit terrifying to look

at. The whole scene is a bit

horrific for them and traumatizing for them, but he's

encouraged them don't be afraid, don't be afraid.

I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified.

The guards are terrified and intimidated.

No comfort is given to them. The women are afraid and heaven

instead says do not be afraid. This is what righteous power

looks like. This is this is if you will

synthesize your whole Bible. This is why you have to read

your whole Bible and not just say, I love this verse.

I'm glad you love that verse. You should love that verse.

Whichever verse it is, you should love it and also know

there are other verses that paint the full picture.

It's the opposite of what the news media does.

They give you this clip and then they want you to come to

conclusions and they want you to be outraged by it, and they want

you to build beliefs and thinking around it and

philosophies and perspectives. But actually, this was the whole

thing. This was the whole context, the

word of God. We've got to take all of

Scripture and we let the Bible interpret the Bible.

So This is why there's no conflict between the fear of the

Lord and simultaneously rejoicing.

But this is what righteous power looks like.

Righteous power punishes the wicked and it rewards the

righteous. By the way, this is what a godly

man looks like. A godly man is powerful, a godly

man is controlled, A godly man is dangerous, and a godly man is

kind. Well, who's he dangerous to?

CS Lewis put it brilliantly in his book called The Lion, the

Witch and the Wardrobe. One of the characters.

I've quoted this to you before. It's a little girl and she's

talking to Mr. Beaver, so it's animals and critters and all

kinds of stuff. And Aslan is the lion who

represents Jesus in the story, and she has not yet met Aslan.

She's heard about Aslan the king.

She's heard about Aslan the king, but she thought he was a

man. Aslan is a lion, the lion, the

great lion. Oh, said Susan.

I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe?

I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.

Safe, said Mr. Beaver. Who said anything about safe?

Of course he isn't safe, but he's good.

He's the king, I tell you. This is what righteous power

looks like. Should I be afraid of God?

Yes. What kind of fear?

Well, that depends. That depends.

Are you in submission and obedience to him?

Then you have a reverential fear that leads you to deeper

devotion, deeper obedience and rejoicing simultaneously because

you know, my Father is good. Is he safe?

Well, what do little children think about their father?

Is he safe? Well, not for bad guys, but is

he safe for the little children? Yeah, he's safe for us.

There's a fearful terror that bring that belongs to the

enemies of God. But for those who seek Jesus,

the word from heaven is comfort, even as we still walk in a

reverential fear, not a terror of punishment.

But we have an all and we walk in a submissive honor.

This is why throughout the Scriptures, you see, don't be

afraid. And then you have commands to

say you should fear the Lord. Which is it?

Well, you have to understand what kind of fear we're talking

about. Some people want to minimize it

because they're uncomfortable. They I would never fear the

Lord. That's a dumb thing to say.

That's really stupid. It just reveals your biblical

ignorance. The Bible teaches that you

should fear the Lord. The question is, what does that

mean? What does that look like?

It looks like a submissive honor.

Submissive honor? I know who he is.

I know God does have wrath. Not my God.

My God only has grace. Well then you don't have the God

of the Bible, because the God of the Bible is the whole picture.

He has the multifaceted diamond. Every way you turn him, you can

see a different part of Him. And yes, God is also love.

So we see all this at work here in this moment.

His goodness, His kindness, His gentleness, His wrath.

The Angel said to the women, do not be afraid.

I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, for he is risen as he said.

Come see the place where he lay. And now we have it, one of the

greatest sentences ever spoken. The tomb is not full.

Death did not win. Sin did not hold him.

The grave could not keep him. Hell did not conquer him.

Jesus has risen as He said. That's the point that the

angel's emphasizing as well. Jesus told them this would

happen multiple times over and over.

Jesus was not surprised by the cross.

Jesus was not defeated by the grave.

He was not rescued on this day from a plan that failed.

He was accomplishing exactly what He always said He would

accomplish. The resurrection is not just an

inspiring addition to Christianity.

The resurrection is necessary and essential.

If you don't believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus

Christ, the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ,

because cults and false religions will say, I think

Jesus rose. Like spiritually, that's a

heresy. And that's a damnable heresy.

We would say it's completely Antichrist.

First Corinthians 15 makes it very plain as Paul lays out the

whole argument. If Christ has not been raised,

your faith is futile. If Jesus is not raised, we are

still in our sins. If Jesus is not raised,

preaching is worthless. If Jesus is not raised, faith is

empty. If Jesus is not raised, the dead

are not raised. If Jesus is not raised,

Christians are of all people to be most pitied, poor things,

foolish, foolish Christians. But then Paul finishes and says,

but Christ has been raised. Paul met the living Christ not

on the day of the resurrection, but years later when Jesus

mercifully rescued Paul and knocked him off of his high

horse. Jesus's resurrection proves his

victory over sin and death. Jesus's resurrection confirms

that the Father accepted his sacrifice.

Anybody can die. Jesus died.

I hope it took, I hope it landed, I hope it worked.

The resurrection also reveals and guarantees our future

resurrection. His resurrection means that

death does not get the final word over the people of God.

He died for our sins and He rose to reign forever.

Verse 7. Then go quickly and tell His

disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is

going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him as I have

told you. So the women came to serve a

dead body, and they leave as the first messengers of the

resurrection. They came morning and they leave

rejoicing. That's what the Lord does.

That's what happens when you see the principle of resurrection in

your life. Whenever something is is broken,

whenever something is devastated, it's just not over

yet. Christians have come to believe

that when something's broken, when something's awful in your

life, no matter how bad, no matter how dark, no matter how

difficult, no matter how painful, the Christian knows

it's not over because God's story is never in this way.

So this is devastating, this is tragic, this is unexpected, but

the Christian says, but it's not over.

This moment hurts. The crucifixion is painful, but

the story of God isn't finished. All is well that ends well and

God's story always ends well. The Angel says, see, I have told

you. He's emphasizing here my work is

done. I've accomplished what I needed

to accomplish. The rest is on you.

You have a job to do. I was faithful.

I was sent on a mission. I was accountable to it.

And he says, see, I've told you like I can't do your job for

you. Angels don't have the

responsibility of preaching the gospel and making disciples of

all nations. That's not how the Lord chose to

do it. The Lord didn't choose to do it

himself. He said I'm going to go to

heaven. I'm going to send the Holy

Spirit. He is just like me.

He will empower you. He will fill you, and then we

will send you and you will preach.

You will tell everybody everywhere about me.

That was God's plan. There is no Plan B.

It's the church. The church is the hope of the

world because Jesus is the hope of the world.

And if the church fails, then the mission fails.

This is why, you hear me pray the way I do, that we would not

be a Church of consumers, but a Church of producers.

In the West, I, and we are very consumeristic, more so than we

realize, more so than I know. I get glimpses of it at times

and I'm disgusted with myself. And then I return to my consumer

ways and the church. We don't have that luxury.

We cannot continue to fall to that temptation.

Do you know that other nations are now sending missionaries to

the United States of America? And they've been doing it for a

while. There are other nations who say,

God help those poor people, and they come over here and I've met

missionaries and like, yeah, the Lord sent us over here, my

brother, we got this. Do you do you show me the fruit

of of the church in the United States.

Show us all the good fruit. Where's all the good fruit?

Where's all the transformation? Where is just the entirely

Christianized culture that has been built by an entirely

Christian people? You are God's plan to reach your

neighbor. You are God's plan to reach your

friend. You are God's plan to reach your

Co worker. You are God's plan to reach your

family member. It's a lot of pressure.

Well, you're, you're not responsible to change their

heart. You're responsible to tell them

the truth. So don't don't confuse your

assignment. Your assignment is obedience.

The Lord's assignment, the Lord's assignment.

He's the one who grants them repentance.

You don't have to change anybody's heart.

You don't have to change anybody's mind.

You have to be faithful though. You have to be a faithful

witness. The women were faithful

witnesses. They went and told the

disciples. And the disciples didn't say we

believe you, did they? Some of the disciples said, I

don't believe you. Some of the disciples said, I'll

have to go see it for myself. That's not the women's problem.

Their responsibility was to obey, and they obeyed their

assignment. And then people can settle it

for themselves. People can seek the Lord.

People can turn from the Lord. People can make demands of the

Lord. Maybe he'll meet their demands.

Maybe he won't like Thomas. I won't believe until I see it.

Jesus walks in and goes, how about now, Thomas?

Thomas goes, Whoa, my Lord and my God, now you believe, Thomas.

It's through your preaching. It's through your telling about

what Jesus has done for you that God is going to change the

world. It's how he did it then.

It's how he does it now. See, I have told you the tomb is

empty. The evidence has been given.

Now you must obey. You hear the good news, and then

you're responsible with what you do with it.

You're responsible with what you do with the gospel, not just for

yourself. Oh, yeah, I've already accepted

it. Right.

That's step one. That's spiritual infancy, which

we all have to start at. It's not a flaw, it's a feature.

But then we have to grow past that and go, wow, now I want to

tell somebody else, now that I've tasted and seen, I want to

pass this along. You either believe in, you obey,

or you suppress the truth in disobedience.

Verse 8. So they departed quickly from

the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples,

fear and joy existing together. It's not an unbelieving fear

like the guards back at the tomb.

This is a reverent, all mixed with resurrection joy.

They're overwhelmed and they're trembling.

They're rejoicing and they're obeying quickly.

That is a good picture of Christian obedience.

Not perfect emotional neatness, not perfect theological

understanding, not having every feeling or emotion sorted out,

but hearing the word of the Lord and moving.

The Lord is commanded, and now you obey.

Well, I wish an Angel would tell me what to do.

You have more than an Angel telling you what to do.

You have the Lord Jesus telling you what to do.

You can read ahead if you'd like this week and finish the

chapter. Spoiler alert, he already told

you what to do. This is the purpose of the

church. This is the purpose of every

church. Churches can have personality.

Churches can have certain strengths in different

congregations, but all churches have the same mission.

All churches have the same purpose, to make disciples of

all nations. That is the mission of the

Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't get to define that as

local churches and go, oh, we're going to be a this kind of

church or that kind of church. Well, we're going to have a

personality that's built around who's here.

We're going to have a personality that's built on the

strengths and the calling in particular of us and the

leadership. And that'll look like something.

Each family looks like something, but every Christian

household also has the priority of glorifying Jesus, and every

church has the priority of making disciples.

Verse 9. And behold, Jesus met them and

said greetings. So they obey.

And then Jesus met them on the way.

You want Jesus to meet with you? Walk in obedience.

I just wish the Lord would like show up for me.

When does he show up for the women?

He finds them. They didn't go find him.

They went on their job. They went on their mission.

They're running to obey what they've been told.

And Jesus goes, this is going to be sweet.

They're going to love this. Greetings.

And what do they do? They fall down at his feet.

They probably hadn't done this before.

They met him, they loved Him, they followed him, they honored

him, but in this moment, the full revelation, if any, if they

had any other doubts, those are being erased.

Greetings. And they came up and took hold

of his feet and worshipped him. They meet Jesus as they go.

That's when often times you'll find the presence of Jesus the

sweetest in your life and the fellowship is most near in your

obedience. You want to see more of the

presence of God in your life? Pursue more obedience.

Don't confuse it to think it's a formula and something that

you'll earn. I obeyed and therefore I earn

more of the presence of the Lord.

That would be a massive mistake. But what you will find happen is

as you're pursuing the Lord and His will, you're in deeper

fellowship with the Lord. That's what happens.

They see Him and then they worship Him.

They take hold of His feet. This is the bottle, the bodily

resurrection of the Lord Jesus, not just some sort of spiritual

idea that took place. This is not a symbol.

This is the risen Christ in a real body.

The feet that were pierced are now standing.

The body that was buried is now alive, and they worship Him.

Verse 10. Then Jesus said to them, do not

be afraid. So don't have any fear, don't

have any terror. Aren't they supposed to fear the

Lord? They do, and they will continue

to, as the New Testament will continue to teach.

Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to

Galilee, and there they will see me.

Jesus calls his disciples here something unique, something

profound. He calls them my brothers, which

is a very gracious thing for him to say about the men who

deserted him and about the men who left him.

This is Jesus offering grace and forgiveness.

These are men who are hiding Peter who denied they all failed

him. And the risen Christ says, go

tell my brothers this is mercy. And to call someone brother is

to say that you're sharing the inheritance with them.

So Jesus is also extending the inheritance to his church.

And by the way, we're all brothers in that sense of

Christ. Even if you're a woman, the

promise is still for all the sons of God.

So you might say, I don't want to be a son of God.

Well, us guys didn't want to be a bride of Christ and yet here

we are. So it's not, it's not gendered

in that sense. So to be you do want to be a son

of God, women, you're sons of God.

That means you get the inheritance because throughout

history and throughout the Scriptures, daughters don't get

the inheritance. The son gets the inheritance.

So This is why you want to be, yes, I am a son of God and yes,

I'm also the bride of Christ. So it's fair.

It goes both ways. And yes you do.

Gentlemen, brothers, you do want to be the bride of Christ.

And sisters, of course, we want to be also the sons of God, but

Jesus calls them my brothers. Jesus sharing his inheritance

with his brothers. Disciples don't have an

inheritance. Servants don't have an

inheritance. Slaves don't have an

inheritance, but brothers do. And the first born from among

all the dead, the Lord Jesus blesses us all with what he

accomplished and what he earned for us.

Verse 11 while they were still while they were going.

Behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief

priests what had taken place. So the women finally left.

And now eventually the Angel departs and the guards are

horrified. They've never experienced

anything like this. These are pagans.

And they're going, wait a second.

This whole Jewish thing, this whole Jewish Jesus, this whole

rabbi, The Jews hate him, but he's actually who he said he

was. Everybody knows who Jesus is at

this point. They're not just guarding some

random though. I think it's some Jewish

Carpenter that no one's ever heard.

Everybody knows who he is. Everyone knows what's happened.

So they run into the city and they don't know.

They don't know. They don't want to go tell

Pilate, hey, bad news because they could be killed for what

has just taken place. So instead they go to the Jews.

Would you guys please help us? Please help us solve this.

Help us figure out what to do. This is the other response.

This is the opposite of the women.

The women hear the truth and obey.

The guard seized this power and they go report it.

The priests hear the report and they suppress it.

They don't investigate it with humble hearts.

They do not repent, they do not fall on their faces.

They bribe the soldiers and they spread a lie.

This is what hard hearts do. People heard God speak during

the ministry of Jesus and you know what they said?

They heard the voice of the Father and people said it

thundered. That happened.

God spoke and everyone heard it. And then some people said that

was Thunder. Why?

Because their own hard hearts, because their own lack of desire

to obey God instead of because when you believe that there is a

God, you are now accountable to that God.

This is a very simple logical argument that you need to

understand. This is why so many people don't

believe in God. Yes they do, but if they were to

fully acknowledge that reality to themselves, then they would

also have to reconcile with that reality.

I don't know if I believe that anymore.

I'm deconstructing my faith. I, I, I don't know.

I'm I'm more enlightened now. That is a person who loves their

sin, and if they come face to face with Christ, they know they

don't get to keep their sin and Christ.

So they say, I think Jesus was a good moral teacher and I think

he was a great man, and I think that I can't deny Christ.

Literally no religion in the world denies Christ.

Did you know that they all have to handle Christ?

Every false cult deals with the Lord Jesus.

Every false religion has to deal with the Lord Jesus.

Why? Because he's King of kings and

Lord of Lords. Now, they still lie about him,

just like the Jews did then, just like Jews do to this day.

Every world religion, everything still lies about Christ.

But they don't say like Jesus didn't exist because you'd be an

idiot to say that. There's more evidence that Jesus

existed than Shakespeare. So, you know, if you're that

much of A moron, then you're free to be.

But my point is, people aren't stupid.

I don't intend to insult them. My point is to help you

understand the issue is hard hearts.

The Pharisees crucify the Lord of glory, The Roman guards

crucified the Lord of glory, and when they saw him raised from

the dead, they still would not believe because they didn't want

to. That's it.

The pressure's off of you. Now go tell the truth with love

and with joy and with enthusiasm.

When people go, uh huh, you go, so sad for you, on to the next

one. Because Jesus said, and if you

believe your Master, the harvest is ready, but the laborers are

few and you get stuck on one grain of wheat and you go, it's

not harvesting, it's not harvesting, it's not harvesting.

Keep moving. There are other grains in the

field that are ready right now and they need you and they're

open and the Lord is sending you to them and you are responsible

for them. And you will also answer for

your obedience or disobedience. They bribe the soldiers.

They spread the lie. People heard God, people say it

thundered. Have you ever shared a

testimony, a miracle story of something the Lord has done in

your life? And then the cynic is there and

they go, well, that's just because this, the cynical

explanation, the naturalist explanation for everything.

Oh well, that only happened because of this.

Oh, that's only because of this. There will always be cynics.

Make sure you're not one of them.

That's right, that's right. They see enough truth to be

responsible. They know enough to repent, but

they love their position or their sin or their control or

their own Kingdom or their own circumstances more than they

love God. And that's the warning.

It's not always vile. The rich young ruler, he seems

interested, He seems curious. And Jesus says, go sell

everything you have and then come follow me.

And he goes, oof, that is too much to ask.

I don't love you that much. And he went away sad because he

had so much stuff. He had ordered so much off

Amazon. And he took so many nice trips

and he had so many beach houses and he had so many girlfriends

and he had. So just whatever.

He was just, he was a cool young guy and he was rich.

Give all that up for Jesus. Yeah.

Such a tough trade. Spoken like someone who doesn't

really know Jesus, but Jesus loved him.

But you know what Jesus didn't do?

Please, please, please please please please please please,

please, please. He didn't chase him.

We'd get no report of how he sent other apostles on an

ongoing mission for this guy. We didn't.

We don't get told about prayer meetings that were set up for

this guy. Jesus says I know what I'm

worth. The mission carries on.

Do you know what Jesus is worth? Your life is Your life is

telling that whether or not your mouth would say it.

Your life tells whether or not you know what Jesus is worth.

Your life casts your vote. We don't vote on a paper ballot.

We vote every day we're closing. This is a warning, of course.

Do not reject the truth because it threatens your self-interest.

Do not suppress conviction because obedience would cost

you. Do not love your sins so much

that you would rather defend a lie than bound to the risen

Christ. Pastor Kim, my pastor, he says

he has a very he's, he's got his doctorate, so he's much smarter

than me. And he has a very elaborate

theological explanation for this.

And he says sin makes you stupid.

And I thought, man, when you get a doctorate, you get that kind

of wisdom to to consolidate things, to just make it that

simple. Because when you see things in

your life or in other people's lives, you're like, what?

Sin makes you stupid? Fair enough.

It makes sense. God, protect me, make me wise.

What's the beginning of wisdom? The fear of the Lord, the real

Jesus, divides people. The resurrection divides people,

the divided people that day. The resurrection still divides

people today. It's wild to me as somebody who

loves Jesus and knows Christ, it's wild to me.

It's still wild to me to share the gospel with somebody and

it's just like nobody's home. It's still wild to me.

I still have not gotten over the fact that people can be unamazed

by it. It still blows me away and I

still take it like personally every time, like they must not

have heard me. Let me try it again.

Let me say it a different way. Let me take more time with them.

And then eventually, if I just continue to see that thing, you

know, sometimes the Lord will lead me to pray in a certain way

and there's just, I see the enemy just stealing the seed

right away. I've seen that before.

You ever, do you ever minister to somebody that way?

You're sharing the good news of Christ with them.

And I mean, it's instant. I'm talking instantaneous.

I'm like, I'm talking and they can't even Satan is blinding

their minds. They are oppressed and they are

just diarrhea of the mouth with every stupid thing they've ever

heard or thought about the Bible or Christianity or any in it.

What is happening? That is the thief who has come

to steal, kill and destroy that person's life.

They're not your opponent. You're not wrestling with flesh

and blood. There's a supernatural

manifestation where you are putting out the seed and Satan

says, Nope, this one's mine. And you keep putting it out and

you keep putting in. You're like, I just need to

throw a seed faster. No, you need to pray that the

blinders would fall off and that the Lord in his mercy would

grant them repentance and destroy this demonic stronghold

in this person's life so that they would actually be able to

see clearly. Because it's, it's not even

making it in. And we know the gospel makes it

in. We know the gospel makes it

deep. So I'm not telling you not to

pray for people. I'm telling you to pray for

people. But I want you to understand and

just remember the gospel divides.

Jesus is divisive. The real Jesus is divisive.

The modern American Jesus is no Jesus at all.

He's a fake Jesus. And if they put a statue up to

him, I would tear it down myself.

But the real Jesus is divisive. And he said he would be.

He said I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

I came to divide. I came to make enemies in their

own households. Parents against children,

children against parents in laws, against sons in laws and

daughters in laws. I'm like, well, that one's kind

of easy. You don't get to take all the

credit for that one. Is his motive to divide?

No, his motive is to clarify. Which is why every time a

massive crowd gathered around him, he would do something to

divide the audience. Big crowd today.

Yeah. Jesus, now's the time.

Now's the time to capitalize. We're ready to launch the social

media. We're ready to start, you know,

ramping up the podcast. We got to capture the momentum.

Jesus. And Jesus goes.

You think so, boys? Yeah, Jesus.

Judas was super excited. Like, we're going to start

building the army. Maybe we're going to start,

like, forging some weapons so we can overthrow Rome.

And Jesus says, I got it, guys, Trust me, You have to eat my

flesh and drink my blood. We got to give Jesus public

speaking lessons like he doesn't know how to win a crowd.

If you don't take up your cross and follow me, you're not worthy

to be my disciple. Jesus saved.

Can I talk to you? I love, I love the whole EU

message, super cool and the whole crucify yourself thing.

And I'm sure there's something to it, but can I coach you?

He's divisive, He always has been.

Don't be deceived. But the resurrection is good

news, and we still rejoice in it today, on this Lord's Day, and

on Monday and Tuesday, because every day is the Lord's Day, and

Jesus is really coming back, and he's really coming back soon.

He promised it, He guaranteed it.

It's actually going to happen. He's going to open up the sky

and eventually it says he's going to roll this whole thing

up like a scroll, but we're going to be secure with him

forever in his eternal Kingdom. That was the plan from day one.

That's the plan at the end of the book.

We are in this gorgeous, beautiful detour in the moment.

He's going to get everything back on track.

The snake will be crushed forever and it says that the the

smoke of the enemies of God will will burn forever.

What do we have here? We have the love of God and we

have the fear of God should not have one without the other, and

the resurrection should fill us with all of it.

So what are you supposed to do? What will you do?

Run and tell the good news. That's what I have prayed.

The tomb is empty, Jesus is alive, the King is conquered.

Death. I have prayed for you that you

would rejoice, that you would seek the Lord, that you would

worship him, and that you would go and tell the good news.

Heavenly Father, fill your church with boldness right now

in the name of Jesus. Holy Spirit, fall upon the

humble and the hungry. Those who are seeking, those who

are asking, those who are knocking, help them to find

right now. Open the door to them right now.

Reveal yourself right now. Holy Spirit, fill us again.

We need more boldness. We need more boldness to carry

the good message of our King as you equip us for ministry and

give us opportunities. We commit to obedience even now,

and we look forward to the deeper fellowship that we will

enjoy. God give us sweet and humble

hearts. Like the women who came to the

tomb, we don't always understand what we're doing.

We might not be always maximum full of faith or perfectly clear

in our theology, but we can still seek you, Jesus.

And when we seek you, we will find you, reveal yourself to us

and empower us in the work in Jesus name.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.