The empty tomb
[0:00] Welcome to our Sunday evening service at Calvary Evangelical Church Brighton.! My name is Jerome and I am a member here at the church.! We are a Christian church and we are an evangelical church, meaning that we love to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[0:19] We are a Bible-based church in that we hold the Bible in high esteem and we see it as God's revelation to us. All that we do here is guided by the Bible and biblical principles and it's our practice to preach systematically through a Bible book.
[0:39] We're currently going through a series in Matthew and we're almost coming to the end of this great book. This evening we'll continue hearing what our Lord has to say through this wonderful gospel and it's my earnest desire that you would be captivated by the wonder, the beauty and the goodness of our good doing and sovereign God.
[1:00] Let's start with a prayer for the Lord to bless this time together. Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity to gather and to be together in spirit, although not in person, Lord.
[1:16] And we do pray for your blessing and your presence to be among us. We so need your spirit to uphold us, to guide us, to shape us, Lord. And we're so aware of these times that we're living in, Lord, the turbulence and the uncertainty, all that's going on with this pandemic and political issues and the unrest that we see around us, both internationally and nationally, Father.
[1:44] And, oh, Lord, we come before you as our everlasting and unchanging God, stable and certain and true. We praise you, Lord, as our rock and our refuge, a very present help in trouble.
[2:00] And, Father, we just consider for a moment what's going on in America at this time, Lord. We pray particularly for the transition of power in that nation, Lord God.
[2:15] And we pray that that transition would be peaceful, Lord, and it would be smooth. And we pray that your hand of blessing would be upon that nation.
[2:25] And I pray for the church in America, Father, that the church would respect and honour civil government as is so clearly set forth and commanded in your word.
[2:39] But I also pray that the church would be able to preach the full counsel of God freely, without restraint, Lord God. And that the church would also be able to be a prophetic voice when needed in that nation.
[2:55] I pray, Father, for the civil unrest and all the violence and turbulence that we see and hear of. Oh, Lord, we do pray for unity where there is disunity.
[3:07] We pray for peace where there's violence. We pray for understanding and humility and listening. And, Lord, we just pray, Heavenly Father, for your hand to be upon your church in that nation.
[3:25] We pray for ourselves, Father. We pray for the United Kingdom at this time, in the midst of another lockdown due to the pandemic. Father, I pray for our government.
[3:35] Would you please, Lord, give our government the power and the wisdom to be judicious, to be balanced, to be proportionate in terms of how they approach this pandemic, Father.
[3:53] I pray that they would have an holistic view of people's needs, Lord, and would take into consideration not only the physical and medical needs of this nation, Lord, but would consider the spiritual needs of this nation.
[4:06] Father, we do pray for the whole matter of a vaccine. We are grateful for that, Lord. And we pray that you would sovereignly govern and rule over all that is happening in that area to progress that work, Lord God.
[4:22] Oh, Lord, we are aware of your displeasure with us, for we have sinned as a nation. We have largely turned our back on you, Lord.
[4:34] There is little regard for you and the things of you, Lord God. But, Lord, we do pray for your mercy at this time. Lord, we do believe that you are sovereign over this pandemic, Father.
[4:47] And we pray that you would bring this pandemic to an end and that you would spare us in your mercy. Lord, we pray for those particularly who have been affected, those who have lost loved ones, those who are economically insecure, those who are fearful and anxious.
[5:04] Draw near to them, Father, and do comfort them at this very difficult time, Lord. And, Father, we do commit the church to you, the church in this nation that has been closed down largely for much of the last few months and certainly is at this time.
[5:21] Oh, Lord, we pray that you would bring an end to the churches being closed and that we would be able to open our doors once again and your people would be able to gather in person and worship you, the living God.
[5:34] I pray for the FIEC and I pray for the work that John Stevens is doing and the conversations he is having with the government, Father. I pray that you would bless those discussions and conversations.
[5:48] And I pray that the government would see fit to have your churches opening. Please strengthen your people, strengthen your church. And I pray the gospel would be proclaimed this day and would go out and that people would be changed and would be saved and see the greatness and the majesty of you, the living God, and your son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[6:10] And it's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, let's sing our first hymn this evening, See What a Morning.
[6:21] See What a Morning. See What a Morning.
[6:59] See What a Morning.
[7:29] See What a Morning.
[8:00] The Voices of a Morning. The voice that spans the years, speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us, will sound till he appears, for he lives, Christ is risen from the dead.
[8:19] One with the Father, ancient and ancient, through the Spirit, through close faith with certainty.
[8:39] Honor and blessing, glory and praise to the King Ground with power and authority And we are raised with Him Death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered And we shall reign with Him For He lives, Christ has risen from the dead And we are raised with Him Death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered And we shall reign with Him For He lives, Christ has risen from the dead Our scripture reading this evening is the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 1 to 10
[9:49] So that's Matthew 28, 1 to 10 And I'll be reading from the ESV version 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's not here For He has 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
[10:50] There you will see Him See how I 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 there they will see Me And may God add His blessing To His holy Word Let's pray for the word as it's preached this evening Our Father in Heaven We come before you And we ask for your help As your word is proclaimed We need you so much We need the power of your spirit To unlock this word To make it clear to us To take this word And enable it to impact our head
[11:51] Our heart and our hands Lord Pray Father that you would open our eyes And that we would see wondrous things in your word And that we would be changed by it May I decrease And may you increase And we pray these things in Jesus' strong name Amen Amen As we approach this magnificent and well-known passage It's clear that the central theme Is the glorious doctrine of the resurrection And the resurrection is not only the central theme of this passage But it's of central importance But it's of central importance to the Christian faith And the very gospel itself hinges on this doctrine Now the passage before us tells us how the early believers came to know of the resurrection And the comfort The fear And the joy That this brought to them
[12:52] The resurrection is of such importance That our entire system of belief would crumble If it were not true Now that sounds dramatic But we would literally be better off packing up our bags Shutting down the church And rethinking our whole spiritual lives If the resurrection of our blessed Lord and Saviour did not happen Now the death of any mere founder of a religion Or a philosophical system I think of Islam or Buddhism or Marxism Doesn't have the same impact But Christ was not a founder of a religion He's the central focal point of Christianity He is the one in whom redemption Salvation and eternal glory Is found Christ is Christianity We would have no risen Saviour
[13:56] Who had conquered sin and the grave He wouldn't be vindicated or verified as the Saviour He would just be another dead prophet A good and well-meaning man That died for a cause He wouldn't be the provider of atonement Justification Sanctification His words would not be credible As he foretold in several places his resurrection And we would still be in our sins 1 Corinthians 15 verse 14 onwards says And if Christ has not been raised Then our preaching is in vain And your faith is in vain We are even found to be misrepresenting God Because we testified about God That he raised Christ Whom he did not raise If it is true that the dead are not raised For if the dead are not raised Not even Christ has been raised
[14:57] Your faith is futile And you are still in your sins Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ Have perished If in Christ we have hope in this life only We are of all people most to be pitied So people of God If the resurrection is not true And didn't happen We of most people are to be pitied If you think of much of the book of Acts As an example The preaching of Peter In the preaching of Paul They're seeking to persuade their hearers About the veracity The truthfulness The historicity of the resurrection It's set forth again and again As a cardinal and central doctrine Of the Christian faith The bodily resurrection of our saviour Is an historical fact The New Testament proclaims That he was raised bodily And now has a real glorified body
[16:00] Which was raised on the third day That is very, very clearly Set forth in the scriptures And as we look at this account I want us to follow the passage Under three main points My first point An awesome encounter Secondly A glorious declaration And thirdly A joyful commission So my first point An awesome encounter That's verses 1 to 4 Christ's disciples They were grief stricken They were dejected They were demoralised Having gone through the trauma Of their Lord's crucifixion They were now feeling confused About how the kingdom of God Would advance After such great loss And their faith Was shattered If you put yourself In their shoes Their hopes And their dreams For the future Were seemingly dashed And the sense of disappointment
[17:02] Must have been so palpable And so real for them And it's out of this context That these These God-fearing women Mary Magdalene And the other Mary They had waited Until after the Sabbath As was the Jewish custom Before they attended the tomb And this was on the first day Of the week Or the third day Since his death And burial Now this is why We as Christians We worship on a Sunday And not a Saturday You may wonder Why is this called In other places The third day Well the way we perceive The time and days We see days As 24 hour cycles But it was different In the Jewish calendar Days were counted Even if they weren't Full 24 hour cycles So for example Friday evening Would still be counted As a day Sunday morning Would still be counted As a day So what were these
[18:03] Godly women What were they Looking to do What were they Hoping to do Well they were going To the tomb To attend To the body The gospel of Mark States that they Were going to Anoint Christ And this is likely To have been An anointing Of his head As his body Had previously Been anointed By Joseph And Nicodemus The gospel of Luke States that they Were taking spices That they had prepared Now I think It's significant That they are women That are the first To discover The empty tomb Jewish law And just a broader Society at that Time Would not have Seen women Or deemed women As a credible Witness But the women These women They have a Prominent And they have A significant Place In redemptive History At a time When women Were greatly Undervalued The Puritan
[19:03] Commentator David Dixon Comments That the women Were honoured With being the First to carry Joyful tidings To the scattered Apostles What a place Of honour In the kingdom These godly Women have Now verse 2 States that If you want 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 This was an Awesome And frightening Encounter Now we need To be careful That we We don't bring To mind Very familiar Accounts That we recall From sentimental And unbiblical Images That we may have Got from our Children's Bible story Books Depicting a Nice chubby Faced Unthreatening Robed person Sitting on a Stone Glowing warmly Very affable Very inviting This is more
[20:04] Like a blazing Dazzling Blinding Terrifying Angelic being This is similar To what we see In the Old Testament Prophetical Books If you bring To mind Daniel Or Ezekiel The kind Of vision That left The prophets Falling on Their faces And impacted For days Afterwards This angel Is a mighty And terrifying Witness To the Resurrection His appearance Being like Lightning Describes Intense Brightness Lightning's Not a soft And cuddly Thing But it's Frightening It's Awesome It's Striking It evokes Fear And all The angel Strikes Such fear In the Guards That they Tremble And they Become Like Dead Men So let's Remove From our Minds Any kind Of sentimental Images Of this Awesome
[21:04] Scene Now the Angelic Visitor Has been Assigned For the Specific Task Of Witnessing And declaring The glorious News of the Resurrection I like What J.C.
[21:15] Ryle Says He comments On this Stating That a Glorious Angel Witnesses Of his Rising And glorious Angels Shall gather Believers When they Rise Again The Earthquake Denotes Something Of great Majesty And power About to Take place It's Similar To the Earthshaking And the Rock Splitting Back in Chapter 27 In Verse 51 So here We see This Earthshaking Seismic Event The Earthquakes The Guards Tremble Some Commentators See this As a Symbol Of the Majesty Of Christ And a Prelude Of the General Resurrection At the End Of Time The Angel Then Rolls Back This Huge Disc Like Stone That Seals The Entrance To The Tomb Now Rolling Back The Stone Wasn't About Enabling Jesus To Leave The Tomb He Had A Resurrected And Glorified Body
[22:15] He Could Walk Through Walls No The Rolling Back The Stone Was To Enable The Women And Disciples As Witnesses To Enter The Tomb So They Can Witness That The Tomb Is In Fact Empty In Luke 24 It States That They Entered The Tomb And They Did Not Find The Body And They Were Feeling Perplexed While Encountering Two Angelic Beings The Gospel Of Mark States That They Were Alarmed To See An Angelic Being Upon Entering The Tomb In John 20 It States They Initially Thought The Body Was Stolen So These Women Were Clearly Confused They Didn't Understand What Was Happening There Was A Level Of Perplexity And Not Understanding They Had No Reference To The Resurrection At This Point Until The Angel Declared It To Them Giving An Interpretation And Giving Meaning To What Had Just Happened So
[23:16] I Come To My Second Point A Glorious Declaration And I Think Here We Come To The Central And Pivotal Part Of The Text These Are Some Of The Most Wonderful Verses In The Whole Of The New Testament The Angel's Declaration To The Women Includes Words Of Great Comfort Great Consolation And Reassurance Do Not Be Afraid How Many Times In The Bible Do We Read Those Words You Think Of In The Old Testament Books Like Joshua And Deuteronomy And Isaiah Fear Not Do Not Be Afraid These Precious Words To His Beleaguered And Troubled People Are Such A Source Of Comfort And Often When We Read In The Scriptures The Words Followed By God's Comforting Acts On Behalf Of His People And His Presence And These Words Of The Angel Must Have Brought Great Comfort And Assurance To The Women Now
[24:18] If You Read Carefully The Angel Speaks Words Of Reassurance And Affirmation Where He Says! I Know That You Seek Jesus Who Was Crucified I Know You Seek Jesus God Knows And He Sees Their Seeking And He Sees Our Seeking He Sees Their Seeking Hearts And Their Desire To Attend To Their Lord And Their Saviour Do Not Be Afraid Because I Know These Words Of Reassurance Say Something Of God's Recognition Of Their Act Of Worship Their Act Of Reverence Their Act Of Honor Going To Attend To The Body And God Knows And He Sees Our Acts Of Reverence Of Honor And Worship And He Is Pleased With Our Seeking As True Believers We Needn't Be Afraid As We Seek The Lord We
[25:20] Then Have This Glorious Declaration In Verse Six He Is Not Here For He Has Risen As He Said As He Said Easy To Miss This Easy Just Read Over That But In Those Three Three Little Words As He Said There's So Much There We See The Fulfillment Of What Christ Foretold Concerning His Own Resurrection If You Turn Back To Matthew 12 40 Matthew 12 40 Where The Scribes And Pharisees Asked Jesus They're Asking Jesus For A Sign Jesus Said He Speaks Of The Sign Of Jonah A Mysterious Text In Many Ways Just As Jonah Was Three Days And Three Nights In The Belly Of The Great Fish So Will The Son Of Man Be Three Days And Three Nights In The Heart Of The Earth Something Greater Than Jonah Is Here Something Greater Than Solomon Is Here Obviously
[26:20] He's Foretelling His Greatness But Also His Resurrection Matthew 17 22 He Says The Son Of Man Is About To Be Delivered Into The Hands Of Men And They Will Kill Him And He Will Be Raised!
[26:34] On The Very Specific Foretelling His Resurrection Clear To Us In Retrospect Wasn't Clear To Them Then Because They Were Greatly Distressed They Didn't Fully Understand Matthew 20 19 And They Will Deliver Him Over To The Gentiles To Be Mocked And Flogged And Crucified And He Will Be Raised On The Third Day Here He Foretells His Death A Third Time Just In The Gospel Of Matthew Remember At
[27:37] Come See The Place Where He Lay He Appealing To Their Senses He Emphasizing That This Is A Physical Reality Despite Seeing This It Took Them Some Time To Grasp The Immensity Of What Happened Now It's Actually Later When They See Him And Then They Touch Him In John 20 17 Jesus Says Do Not Cling To Me And Here In Matthew 28 Later In Verse 9 It Says Now Christ Is Not Risen As Some Kind Of Phantom Or As Some Have Tried To Argue That This Was Some Kind Of Collective Hallucination But He Is Risen As A Physical Human Being Yes In A Glorified Body But A Body That Can Be Both Seen And A Body That Can Be Touched We Think Of The Encounter Jesus Had With Thomas Later!
[28:33] In John 20 27 Then I Thought Of 1 John 1 That Little Epistle 1 John At The Beginning Where It Says That Which Was From The Beginning Which We Have Heard Which We Have Heard Which We Have Seen With Our Eyes Which We Looked Upon And Have Touched With Our Hands Concerning The Word Of Life We Consider Then These Three Glorious Words One Of The Most Outstanding Declarations In The Whole Of Scripture He Is Risen He Is Risen Why Is This So Important Why Is This So Central Well We Do We Do Well To Remember The Historicity Of The Resurrection
[29:33] But What Does It Mean Theologically What Does It Mean For Us As Believers Well Christ's Resurrection Was Necessary Because Firstly His Resurrection Evidenced His Complete Victory Over Death Christ Is The Life He Is Life In Its Fullness His Resurrection Is A Pledge That The Curse Is Removed From His People And Silenced Forever His Resurrection Was Demanded By Virtue Of His Divine Nature As The Son Of God He Is The Author Of Life Itself It Was Not Possible For Him To Be Overcome By Death His Resurrection Confirmed That He Had Made Satisfaction For Sin By Sacrificing Himself On The Cross And What I Mean By That Satisfaction For Sin He Satisfied The wrath Of God That Was Poured Out On Him Upon The Cross As He Was Crucified
[30:33] In Our Place It's Resurrection It's The Validation Of His Work On The Cross It Is God's Endorsement That The Atonement Has Been Fully Achieved The Resurrection Is Christ's Acquittal He's Been Released From The Prison Of Death By His Resurrection He Could Apply The Advantages And Benefits Of His Sacrificial Works To Every Believer To You To Me As A Risen And Exalted Saviour Christ Rose As A Public Person Meaning He Was A Representative Person Like Adam He's Standing In Our Place Not Only In His Death Not Only In His Cross Work But He's Standing In Our Place In His Resurrection That's Why We Read In The Bible Passages That Seems Strange At First Because The Bible Says Things Like Of Us Dying
[31:34] And Rising With Him But This Is A Great Comfort To Us As We Have This Newness Of Life And We're Born Again As New Creations In Union With Christ Believers Have Been Raised From Spiritual Death And Raised Up Into Spiritual Life When Christ Rose From The Dead We Rose From The Dead With Him The Bible States This In Several Places And These Are Beautiful Texts Ephesians 2 5 To 6 And He Raised Us Up With Him In The Heavenly Places With Christ Jesus Romans 6 5 If We Have Been United With Him In A Death Like His We Shall Certainly Be United With Him In A Resurrection Like His Romans 6 8 Now If We Have Died With Christ We Believe That We Also Will Live With Him Colossians 3 1 If Then You Have Been Raised With Christ Seek The Things
[32:34] That Are Above Where Christ Is Seated At The Right Hand Of God The Comforts Flowing From The Resurrection Of Many His Resurrection Discloses The Church's Glorious Resurrection His Resurrection Is A Pledge And An Assurance Of The Resurrection Of His Bride The Church His Acquittal His Release From Death Is The Guarantee Or Pledge Of Our Acquittal And Our Release From Death By His Resurrection His Entire Church Is Justified The Resurrection Is God That Is Good News The Greatest Enemy Death Is Defeated Therefore We Needn't Fear Death Or Life And Beloved This Demands Resurrection
[33:35] Change In Our Lives Since We Are New Creations In Christ Our View Of Life Must Be Radically Changed From How We Were Before Yes We Still Have Ongoing Indwelling Sin But Yet We Are Changing And We Have Been Changed The Way We Think The Belief Systems That We Have The Behaviors The Attitudes The Choices The Habits They Must Be Impacted By This Resurrection We Need To Be Seeking The Things Above Setting Our Affections On Things Above Thinking Upon The Things Above Thinking Of Christ And His Work As I Was Preparing This I Was Thinking Of All The Distractions That We Have At This Time The Whole Coronavirus Pandemic The
[34:35] Presidential Election That Has Just Flooded The News Of Late And It's So Easy To Be Distracted At This Time And To Be Seeking The Things Below But What Is The Focus Of Your Hope Is The Focus Of Your Hope The Vaccine The Vaccine Is A Good Thing And A Right Thing And We Should Be Praying For That Is It Is It For A President Or Is It This Resurrection Hope Are You Seeking The Things Above!
[35:07] The Declaration He Is Risen Is Also Confirmation That We Have The Certain Prospect Of The Future Bodily Resurrection As Well The Dead Will Be Raised Incorruptible And We Shall Be Changed I Think Of My Own Body Lately I I'm More Aware Of Weakness Tiredness Kind Of The Decay Setting In A Lack Of Vigour I Went To Get My Eyes Tested Just Last Week And Every Time I Go And Get My Eyes Tested They Deteriorated Again Another Year Goes By And There's This Sense That Everything Is Winding Down But The Dead Will Be Raised Incorruptible And We Shall Be Changed My Third Point A Joyful Commission Verses
[36:08] Seven To Ten Detail The Sending Out Of The Women By The Angel To Tell The Disciples The Glad Tidings Of The Resurrection These Verses They're Pregnant With A Sense Of Urgency Joy And Of Reverential Fear The Angel Has Carried Out His Task And The Focus Now Shifts To The Women Carrying Out Their Task And Having An Encounter With The Risen Lord Jesus While Seeking To Fulfill This Urgent Commission Verse Eight States That They Departed From The Tomb With Fear And Great Joy To Tell The Disciples The Intensity Of The Situation Is Almost Palpable Imagine Their Joy But They're Experiencing Fear And Joy Seemingly Very Different Emotions Now In The Bible Fear And Joy Can Be Emotions That Accompany One Another Believers
[37:09] Can Experience These Mixed Affections Of Fear And Joy And Although The Greek Word For Fear It Can Mean Terror Or Alarm It Also Can Mean A Reverential Respect Or Or This Is A Fear That Delights In The Majesty And Holiness And The Otherness Of God Now We Struggle I Think We Struggle To Conceptualize This In Our Culture I Think In Our Culture Things Tend To Be Very Casual Things Tend To Be Flippant Things Are Frivolous And Familiar And We've Lost That Sense Of Otherness We've Lost That Sense Of Sacredness When Jesus Met Them He Said Greetings I Think In The Authorized Version It Says
[38:09] Hail Which Seems Quite Strange But The Words Greetings Which Literally Means To Rejoice Or Be Glad They Took Hold Of His Feet And They Worshipped Him It's Interesting To Me How Christ Is Worshipped Here And In Verse 17 If You Drop Down In Verse 17 When His Disciples Saw Him While Some Doubted They Worshipped Him Now The Word Of God Is Very Clear That The Only Being Worthy Of Worship Of Our Worship Is God But We Can Worship Christ Because He Is God As The Second Person Of The Trinity One In Essence With God Now If You Recall In The Book Of Revelation In 19 Chapter 19 Verse 10 John Has This Amazing Vision Of An Angel And He Says Then I Fell Down At His Feet To Worship Him But
[39:09] He Said To Me You Must Not Do That I Am A Fellow Servant With You And Your Brothers Who Hold To The Testimony Of Jesus Worship God For The Testimony Of Jesus Is The Spirit Of Prophecy As Awesome And As Awesome And As Radiant As An Angel Is You Are Not To Worship Angels They Are Not God Now One Of The Most Glorious Visions Of Worship In The Whole Of Scripture Has To Be In Revelation 5 11 To 14 And We See The Lamb Is At The Center I Must Read This It's So Glorious Then I Looked And I Heard Around The The To Receive Power And Wealth And Wisdom And Might And Honor And Glory And Blessing And I Heard Every Creature In Heaven
[40:09] And Under The Earth And In The Sea And All That Is In Them Saying To Him Who Sits On The Throne And To The Lamb Be Blessing And Honor And Glory And Might Forever And Ever And The Four Living Creatures Said Amen And The Elders Fell Down And Worshipped We See Here How The Whole Creation Worships The Crucified And Risen Lord Jesus Because He Is Worthy So It Was Wholly Appropriate For These Women To Give Their Adoration And Worship To Jesus And Jesus Like The Angel He Speaks Words Of Comfort Those Words Again Do Not Be Afraid This Must Have Been Further Confirmation And Comfort To Them As He Calms Their Fears They Heard This From The Angel And Now From Christ Himself Jesus Jesus Jesus Then Commands Them To Go And Tell My Brothers Go To Galilee And There They Will See
[41:10] Me He Uses The Words Brothers Brethren! His Weak His Frail Little Flock Of Disciples They're Precious To Him And They're Called Brothers This Is An Intimate And Tender Term For His Disciples It Shows Much Grace Because Remember They Previously Deserted Him Now The Word Brothers May Be Addressing His Disciples In A Narrow Sense Or It May Have A Wider Scope Including A Whole Range Of Believers It's Interesting That In Luke Luke States That They Told All These Things To The Eleven And To All The Rest I Like To Think That It Does Have A Broader Scope And I Like To Think It Includes Us As His Brethren His Brothers I Thought Of How Christ Is So Wonderfully Called Our Older Brother In The Book Of Hebrews He Says To Go Tell
[42:10] My Brothers To Go To Galilee And There They Will See Me What's The Significance Of That Well Throughout Matthew Galilee Has Been The Central Location Of Jesus Earthly Ministry!
[42:23] If You Recall Galilee Is The Most Northern Part Of Israel Just Just Above Samaria And By Meeting The Eleven On The Mountain Of Galilee Post Resurrection This Will Be The Starting Point Of The News Of The Resurrection Going Out To Jews And Gentiles Non Jews Isaiah 9 1 Speaks Of Galilee Of The Nations Galilee Of The Gentiles Galilee Had A Large Jewish Population But The Majority Of The People Were!
[42:56] Gentiles And We As Gentiles Mainly We've Been The Recipients Of This News People Of God Are We Living In The Deep Assurance And Joy Of This Resurrection News As It Has Come To Us Does It Animate Us Joy Well Joy Can Wain To particularly in stressful times.
[43:29] And I think all of us, if we're honest, that sense of joy can wax cold, it can come and go. But the joy we're speaking of here is a deep, deep joy.
[43:42] It's not a worldly joy. This is an enduring joy that isn't frivolous, and it's not rooted and based on our feelings or our circumstances. It's a resurrection joy.
[43:56] Well, you may ask, how do I get this joy? How do I have this joy? How do I keep this joy? May our minds be fixed and stayed on him. May we trust, believe and look to Christ, not the distractions around us.
[44:16] Now, we may and we will suffer in this life, sickness, sorrow, weakness of body and mind. But we can say with confidence, he is risen.
[44:30] The tomb is empty and take to heart the words of our Saviour. I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
[44:44] Amen. Amen. Amen. And that brings us to the end of the sermon. Our closing hymn this evening is, Low in the grave he lay.
[45:02] Jesus, my Saviour, Jesus, my Saviour, Wait in the coming day, Jesus, my Lord.
[45:37] Up from the grave he arose, with the mighty triumph for his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign.
[45:53] He arose, he arose, Hallelujah, Christ arose. Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus, my Saviour.
[46:12] Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus, my Saviour. Jesus, my Lord. Up from the grave he arose, with the mighty triumph for his foes.
[46:30] He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose, he arose, Hallelujah, Christ arose.
[46:46] Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus, my Saviour.
[46:58] He tore the bars away, Jesus, my Lord. Up from the grave he arose, with the mighty triumph for his foes.
[47:16] He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose, he arose, Hallelujah, Christ arose.
[47:32] He arose. Oh, oh, oh, oh