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[0:00] We're going to look at the account in Matthew's Gospel. Please turn to Matthew's Gospel if you've got the Bible there. I find that very helpful to do so.

[0:11] So, there's lots of things we can say about the resurrection, but this morning we will just look at the text as God helps us.

[0:22] This evening is part two. We'll look at the last four verses of the Great Commission. So, you could have a bonus Easter day, a bonanza Easter day, come this morning here, first part, come this evening here, the second part.

[0:37] Let's pray. Lord Jesus, will you assert to us again through your word, your glory, your victory, your power.

[0:53] We need your power. We need your upholding. We need you to strengthen our faith.

[1:04] We can't do any of this without you. And you, in your risen glory, have all fullness, all power. And indeed, having been a man on earth, you know the sort of temptations that we have.

[1:22] And you are well able to send from heaven, your help. So, help us now, this very moment, in these next minutes, to see wonderful things from your word.

[1:35] For your glory, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Help us, Lord. marmite. marmite.

[1:48] marmite. It's an English food. You find some foods like it in other countries. I think there's an Australian version, vegemite.

[1:59] And in French-speaking Switzerland, senovice. but it is a very unusual food and people, it is said, either love it or hate it.

[2:10] You can't slightly like Marmite. You either love it or hate it. It divides the country. Which is a strange thing for an English food because it was invented by, according to Wikipedia, it was invented by Justus von Liebig.

[2:26] Jesus' resurrection divides humanity. It divides the human race in the future.

[2:38] Those who are risen with him and raised with him will be entirely distinct from those who are not. All in Adam die, all in Christ shall be made alive.

[2:50] And there is a division that stretches into the present, into this very room. There is a division of people over the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[3:02] And I want to try to persuade you, every one of you, to be on the right side of that division. So what I'm going to do is to tell the story.

[3:18] It's there. We had it read to us. We'll just tell it, so nothing clever about it. I think it's sort of in five scenes. So scene one, two, and three.

[3:28] And scene four is very like scene two. Scene five is at the end. And then I'm going to show you the two sides, the two divisions that this divides into, the two groups of people this divides into.

[3:40] That's what I'm going to try to do this morning. I'll give you a spoiler alert. Look out, please, for the word behold. If you have a Bible from the back of the church, a new international version, the word is invisible.

[3:55] You can't see the word behold. The word behold means look out. It means see. It's a word of sort of surprise and intensity.

[4:08] And it's in there six times. You wouldn't know, would you? But let me just show you where they are. In 28, verse 2, there was a violent earthquake.

[4:21] Behold, there was a violent earthquake. Verse 7, he, and we're just trying to work out where it comes. Go quickly, tell his disciples.

[4:33] Now, where does it come? I think it's behold, he has risen from the dead. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you.

[4:44] NIV translates it now. But he says, look, I've told you. Behold. Verse 9, suddenly Jesus met them.

[4:56] Original language says, and behold, Jesus met them. And there's another one somewhere else. Where is it? While the women were on their way, behold, some of the guards went into the city.

[5:12] So there's another behold there. You've got to watch that side of things as well. Have I counted them all? There's one in verse 20. Teaching them to, where's my, yeah.

[5:24] Teaching them everything I've commanded you. And surely behold. Behold. See this. I am with you always to the very end of the age.

[5:35] So there will be holds in there that you wouldn't know. But they sort of give an intensity to the story. Jesus is mentioned five times.

[5:48] So look out for the mentions of Jesus. And right at the very end, there are four alls. So in verse 18, all authority.

[5:58] Go and make disciples of all nations. Verse 20, teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always. So there's four alls.

[6:10] And they're quite important. We'll look at them this evening. And when you come back this evening to hear that, you'll get the alls. So those are just some little pointers to what's going on in the text.

[6:22] We'll go through it scene by scene. The first scene is between the death and the burial. So this is verse 57. As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea.

[6:37] A rich man. Buried with a rich man. Anybody like to say what that echoes from the Old Testament? Rich in his death.

[6:47] Yes. It's in the servant song. He was with the rich in his death. So I think, anyway, let's, I think there's a little echo going on there. A rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had been a disciple of Jesus.

[7:03] Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. And Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, pasted it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.

[7:19] When it says he had cut out, I think what it means is he had got his builders to cut it out of the rock. It says he did things, but he couldn't have done it all by himself.

[7:30] It means that he got his chaps to do it. Likewise with the stone. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

[7:42] Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. So this is scene one. Joseph asks for the body. It was very unusual for anybody to ask for the body, the corpse of a crucified criminal.

[7:55] So Joseph is quite bold. It's quite a brave thing for him to do. He buries the body in a tomb cut into the ground.

[8:07] So it's not a sort of burial like we would do where you dig a hole and drop the body in. It's a cave sort of structure. We're told it's a new tomb, verse 60.

[8:19] So that's important because the new tomb says that it hasn't been there for a long time. It hasn't been in the family for generations. It doesn't have the body of his grandmother and his great-grandmother in there.

[8:30] It is empty because it's a new tomb. And he closed it in the normal way. He rolled, or he got his team of builders, I would imagine, because it's a big stone, a team of people to roll, is the correct word, a big stone.

[8:50] There are a lot of big things that happen. The Greek word is mega. We use that, don't we, in English. You have a megabus and megabytes. This is just big.

[9:01] A lot of big things happen. Here's number one of them, a big stone. And then Joseph goes away. He went away. So he leaves the scene.

[9:13] But Mary and the other Mary, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, were sitting opposite the tomb. So they just sit and observe.

[9:25] They sit and wait. And that's that scene. It's sort of an intervening scene. You have to admire them. To admire Joseph for his courage to go and ask for the corpse.

[9:43] And you have to admire the demotion of these two Marys, who, I think this is a devotional act, isn't it? It's out of love for the Lord Jesus, their dead saviour, their dead hero, that they just sit there.

[9:58] They sit there by the tomb. And so I would think we come to the end of that scene. We say there's something very worthy. But it's rather sad.

[10:10] If that's where the Bible ended, it would be sad. I don't know whether you went to a Good Friday. We went one year to a Good Friday concert.

[10:20] And I can't remember. It was something by Bach we had. And it ends on Good Friday. And it ends with this scene. And it's just sad. Is that it?

[10:33] No, it isn't. But if it were, I mean, that would be rather a forlorn ending. So let's go to the next scene. Now the next scene is the opponents, verse 62.

[10:44] So we come now to the next day. Let me read it. The one after preparation. The chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. Sir, they said, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceitful.

[11:01] After three days, I will rise again. So let's do some of the words here. Notice the group that are meeting. The chief priests. So they are, I'm not an expert in first century Jewish sociology.

[11:17] But I, my understanding from the commentators is that the Sadducee group would have been associated with the chief priests. Sort of aristocratic creep of society.

[11:28] The Pharisees were more like a separatist group of keen, rigorous, scrupulous.

[11:40] They could have been lay people. But they meet and they also go to Pilate, who is completely unclean. He's a Gentile, as we know, a non-Jew.

[11:52] It's an interesting word. They go together. They went to Pilate. The word is they synagogued. A synagogue means to come together.

[12:03] But I just found that an interesting word to use. They're sort of getting together. It almost gives you the idea, almost, as a little sort of religious group. You know, we've got a lot in common.

[12:15] Have you? Well, apparently, chief priests, Sadducees, or Pharisees, Pilate. We've got something in common. And they say to Pilate, sir.

[12:29] The word is kiri. Which we normally associate with lord. Well, I mean, that's what it means, lord.

[12:39] But it can have a range of meanings, from just being polite to being worshipped. And we know somebody is going to emerge from this story as being lord of heaven and earth.

[12:52] And I just found it an interesting thing that the Pharisees and the Sadducees politely or reverently say to Pilate, Lord, kiri, sir.

[13:05] Where does that come from? We remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, After three days, I will rise again.

[13:16] So there's no doubt in their minds that he said this. And that they had to be careful of it. And we notice the word deceiver. It's, forgive me, because I like words.

[13:32] It's the word from which we get the word planet. A planet is a wandering star, an unreliable star. And they say of Jesus, he's a deceiver. You can't trust him.

[13:44] He's a fraud. And they use that word again in verse 64. The last deception. He's a deceiver.

[13:56] He doesn't tell us the truth. He'll wander off in an unreliable, unwholesome way. That's who they see Jesus as.

[14:09] And they know that he prophesied after three days, I will rise. So, they say to Pilate, give the order for the tomb to be made secure.

[14:20] And you'll notice that word secure is going to be popping up three times. Emphasizing. Because repetitions in the Bible emphasize things, you see. Because they couldn't do bold and italic and things like that.

[14:36] So, they emphasize by repeating them. Give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. And what we're read of, they say, is his disciples may come and steal the body.

[14:50] And tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. And this last deception will be worse than the first. So, they say, that's what we want to do. We're going to use our powers to prevent any deception to the effect that Jesus is risen from the dead.

[15:12] Now, what does Pilate say? Now, depending on how you translate it, he either says, take a guard, meaning take a guard of my soldiers. Or, he says, you have a guard, meaning we're going to get involved with this.

[15:28] You're perfectly capable of dealing with this sort of Jewish in-house controversy yourself. You take a guard. Take your own guard. Either way. But he says, go and make the tomb as secure.

[15:43] Notice that. As you know how. So, get your best men on this. How can you make this tomb as secure as human beings in the first century can make a tomb?

[16:02] Secure it. Lock it down. We don't want any funny business here. Make it secure to prevent the body from being stolen and then more lies and deception coming off that.

[16:17] Make it as secure as you know how. And that's what they do. They have a guard. They put a seal on the stone. Now, I don't know how they would have put a seal on the stone.

[16:29] I mean, I think of seals as being wax poured onto things. And I don't recall what the commentators said about this. But somehow, they've sealed this.

[16:41] They've locked this down as tight as they know how. And that's what is happening in this meeting. And just think about how they're thinking.

[16:54] Humanly speaking, you know, they're using their best planning, their best resources.

[17:07] Make it as secure as you know how. And they think, we're going to lock this down for sure. But I ask the question, do you think they knew who they were up against?

[17:24] Let's go to scene three. So this is a little bit longer now. At the tomb. So we're now into chapter 28. After the Sabbath, at dawn, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

[17:42] So they've been away. They come back. Jesus died on the good Friday. All this happened before the sun came down.

[17:53] They watched that. Saturday was the Sabbath. Now we're talking about what we would call the Sunday. Early in the morning, the two Marys come to look at the tomb.

[18:05] And this is what they find. There's a mega earthquake. There's a mega earthquake. A violent earthquake.

[18:18] And the word behold was in there. Behold. There was a violent earthquake. And why was there a violent earthquake? Notice the word for. For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven.

[18:30] And going to the tomb, he rolled the stone away. I think there's a lot of physical power here.

[18:41] There's physical power in the earthquake. And there's physical power in this angel who rolls the stone away. It took a team of people to put that stone into place.

[18:52] And it was all sealed up. But he rolls the stone away. Not we understand that we shall now see Jesus come out. Because the stone didn't keep him in anyway. This is really more to let people see what was in.

[19:05] Or what isn't inside. That's really why the stone's rolled away. And this angel, we're told, verse 3, his appearance was like lightning.

[19:18] And his clothes were white as snow. It's just a sentence. But I find that a difficult one to grasp. So to see somebody who was so, well, you know what lightning's like.

[19:31] Brilliantly white, sort of electrically intense. And at this particular point, the angel chose to reveal himself with this intense light and brightness and brilliance.

[19:47] His clothes were white as snow. Sort of like a visitor from another world, really. And the guards, this uses the word keepers, verse 4, were so afraid that they shook.

[20:00] Same word as earthquake, actually. They quaked. The earth quaked. The guards quaked. And they became like dead men. Like dead ones.

[20:11] So this is what happens when you try and keep the tomb closed. The guards quaked.

[20:22] They became like dead people. And we started the thought with the best human ingenuity to keep this situation locked down.

[20:35] And now we suddenly find that these guards are like jelly. Well, actually, it says they're like dead people. And we have this intervention, which just happens.

[20:47] Don't get any introduction to it. Of this angel with this brilliant otherworldly whiteness who just rolls the stone away and sits on it. Just... And you ask, who seems fragile and futile now?

[21:02] Who's got the right end of the stick now? Let's look now at the words of the angel. Verse 5. The angel said to the women...

[21:16] So to the women, he says this, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I know angels are frightening to guards and keepers, custodians, but to you, don't be afraid.

[21:32] And the angel says, I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He's mentioned by name.

[21:44] And he's referred to as the crucified one. So we mustn't lose the link between the crucifixion and the resurrection. They're not chalk and cheese. They're linked together.

[21:55] It's the crucified one who is risen. And he's risen because he was crucified. He was obedient to death.

[22:10] Therefore, God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

[22:22] It's because he was crucified that he was risen. He is not here. They've come looking for a dead Jesus whom they may revere and minister to as best they can, but there's no such person.

[22:45] The tomb is empty. He is risen. And you can satisfy yourself on that, says the angel. Verse 6. Come and see the place where he lay.

[22:56] He is risen just as he said. So his word is one of the constants through here. What he said he will do, he did. That's the place where he lay, and he's not there anymore.

[23:11] So now they say, Go quickly. So we get a note of urgency. Go quick! You know, we've seen mega things.

[23:23] Go quick now! Quick! And tell his disciples, He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.

[23:35] He's not with the dead people anymore. He doesn't belong there. He was there temporarily. He went there, but he doesn't belong there. He's not with the dead people anymore.

[23:45] He's risen. He's alive. And the specific instruction to go into Galilee. So here we are in Jerusalem, but the next things that Matthew tells us about are going to take place back up north again, back in home territory, not down here in Jerusalem.

[24:05] And there you will see him. And then the angel says, That's it. What are you waiting for? Behold, now I have told you.

[24:16] I have spoken to you. So, whoa, this is something to digest, isn't it? It's, that speech is entirely Jesus-centered. Did you notice? Jesus who was crucified, he is not here.

[24:29] He has risen. He told you. That's the place where he lay. Tell his disciples, he has risen from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him.

[24:39] It's all about Jesus. And that's the news that they're given. Would you imagine yourself trying to compute that? Trying to think, oh, what's just, I don't know, what's happening?

[24:52] What sort of, but what they do is they, they, they run. Verse 8, the response of the women.

[25:05] They go quickly. And it says, they were filled, they had fear and joy mega. They were afraid yet filled with joy, says the NIV.

[25:21] I don't know whether the mega means the big fear or the big joy or both of them, but could you imagine yourself there trying to work out what am I most? Am I most, am I most elated or am I most intimidated?

[25:36] Am I most joyful or am I most fearful? I mean, what just happened? What have I just witnessed? What's been going on here? And they're probably still working this out in their heads as they run.

[25:48] Notice this, running. It's a very undignified thing to do when you reach a certain age. I don't know what age these people were, but they were, they're running and, and suddenly, oh, let's get to that bit in a moment.

[26:04] what they're going to do is to tell the disciples. Now, it isn't the word which is actually to bring good news, which we get evangelical, evangel, evangelize.

[26:20] It's a word like it, apangelo. It means, so, if you wouldn't mind, we'll just say it sort of means good news.

[26:31] It's to tell his disciples, to report to the disciples, and that's what they're heading off to do. And behold, so we've not got another behold, Jesus met them and he says greetings.

[26:46] It's made up of the word for joy, so we might say cheers or cheer up or might even say rejoice. And they come to him and they are so overwhelmed with the wonder of this, the brilliance of it.

[27:08] They clasp his feet. Now, I don't think you can clasp somebody's feet without either bending down a very long way or actually being flat on the ground. So I think this says that they were, I think I would go for flat on the ground.

[27:24] That's their attitude to the risen Jesus. They clasped his feet and they worshipped him. To worship, to bow down in, it can be just in politeness but it can be in divine reverence.

[27:38] I think that's the end of it we go for, isn't it? They worshipped him. They seized his feet and worshipped him and Jesus says, again a repetition, do not fear.

[27:53] Go and tell, go and go and give this report, this report of good news to my brothers. That is actually a significant word there, my brothers.

[28:05] They're not just my servants, they're family. In John's gospel that's one of the big points that's made. Go and tell my father and your father. Go and tell my brothers and your brothers.

[28:17] Yeah, my brothers. brothers. This has subtly and radically changed and, if you like, brought into a new clarity and a new clarity of family.

[28:37] Jesus says, after the resurrection we're family. You're my brothers and sisters. My father is your heavenly father.

[28:48] That's a very reassuring thing to know, isn't it, in the ups and downs of life. Tell my brothers to go to Galilee, as we'd said, so this is repeated, there they will see me, which is repeated.

[29:01] So that's what happens in this third scene. And I think, you know, you could stop and say, wouldn't that have been wonderful to see Jesus?

[29:13] Don't you think? Wouldn't that have been wonderful to be there? And, you know, with tears in your eyes, you think, I'll never see him again, and then this huge shock of the angel and everything, and then you actually see Jesus, and what would you do?

[29:29] Would you have clasped his feet and worshipped him? well, Jesus says, I've actually got a job for you to do, you've got to run off now.

[29:41] So that's what they did, to report, to take the good news, if you like, go and tell my brothers. So that's what they're going to do.

[29:52] Now, scene shifts again, into verse 11, and we're now back with the opponents. So scene four is a little bit like scene two, where in opposition headquarters, while the women were on their way, behold, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.

[30:18] So the guards go back into the city from this outside location, and they too use this word to bring good news or to bring a report, and they bring a report to the chief priests of everything that had happened.

[30:34] So you think, you compare the two reports that are being sent in two different directions. And they say, now you've got to listen carefully to this, when the chief priests had met with the elders, they devised a plan, and they gave the soldiers a large sum of money telling them, you are to say his disciples came at night and stole him away while we were asleep.

[31:12] And if anybody asks you, how do you know what happened if you were asleep, you just say, don't ask questions like that. that's what you were to say.

[31:26] And the soldiers say, we're supposed to say that, are we? You know that we get court marshaled for falling asleep when we're supposed to be on sentry duty. It won't be a problem, they said.

[31:37] Verse 14, if this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were taught, as they were instructed, they were given this teaching, you see, that word will crop up again in a moment.

[31:55] They were taught that and Matthew says, this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day, to the time of writing. So the chief priests, am I right?

[32:09] The chief priests and the elders have come up with this idea, we'll plan, we'll bribe you, this is actually a deception, isn't it? This is a deception.

[32:23] You have to say, you have to tell a lie that they stole the body and you have to say we were asleep and if there's repercussions, don't worry, we'll sort it out with our money.

[32:35] And the soldiers did as they were taught. The story was widely circulated but was untrue and was known to be untrue.

[32:48] The people who made it up knew it was untrue, the people who told it knew it was untrue. Sometimes people think that the resurrection is make believe.

[33:04] Make believe is when you make yourself believe something that you know is not true. That's make believe. that you could do make believe that you had super powers like spider-man.

[33:18] Children do that. That's make believe. In this story, where is the make believe? The make believe is with the chief priests and the elders who make something up which is not true for other people to believe.

[33:37] They're the deceivers in this story. Let's go back to the mountain in Galilee then, which we'll look at in more detail this evening. But we'll just skim over it.

[33:49] Back in the Galilee mountain, the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him. So you get this same response of worship, but some doubted.

[34:05] Now I've always had a question about this little part of the sentence. The commentary that I looked at this week pointed out this is a very unusual word.

[34:16] I think it's used on the occasion where Peter was trying to walk on water, but he got confused. He was bewildered. Do you remember how he sunk and he said, Lord save me.

[34:30] Yes, you remembered anyway. Well done. Yes. And here, on meeting the risen Jesus, it says, some doubted.

[34:43] I wonder whether that gives us the right idea, that translation. Does it mean some were bewildered, some were caught between joy and fear, some were so confused they didn't know whether worship was the appropriate response or what?

[35:01] I could imagine that, people just taking a while to digest that. Anyway, that's what he said. There was a response of worship and there was also some people found it bewildering.

[35:16] Jesus came and said, well, I'll just rehearse to you the things that he said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations.

[35:30] There's quite a bit of going, going and telling, going and telling. Jesus says, now you go and tell as well. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

[35:43] So one name, three persons, teaching them, same word as what the soldiers were done, they were taught to do something. Jesus says, I want people taught to do something and I'm teaching them to obey.

[35:59] or in fact to keep everything I've commanded you. There were some other people keeping stuff earlier on, but this is keeping my commands and surely I am with you all the days.

[36:11] And this ends up with a big scale go and tell. The risen Jesus says, not right, now then, now then, now is the time when all the nations will come to be my disciples.

[36:27] disciples. So at this point, we're looking for a really big go and tell. Go and make disciples of all nations. So that's the new agenda.

[36:40] And I'll try and make some more of that this evening, but let's just stop. That's our agenda. That's our agenda, to go and make disciples of all nations. Our agenda is specifically that.

[36:55] It's not keep the church going at all costs. It's not, you know, make sure you do all the paperwork right. It's important to make sure we do all the paperwork right. That's not the point of the church.

[37:06] That's what we have to do in order to do what is the point of the church. The point of the church is to go and make disciples of all nations. That's our job. It's exactly where the temple fell down.

[37:18] They didn't make a house of prayer for all nations. It's our job to do that, to make disciples of all nations. We're on a mission. We'll look at that more this evening. Right.

[37:28] We're going to try and bring the strings together. So, did you notice, did you notice these things, that a number of possible objections were dealt with quite deliberately?

[37:43] Is rebuffed the right word? I couldn't think. What do you do with objections? Answer? Refute. Yeah, perhaps I should have used refute. I knew it began with answer. Objections rebuffed, refuted.

[37:57] Objection number one. Ah, you see, they got muddled up because there were other bodies in the tomb. It really wasn't a resurrection at all. There were other bodies in the tomb. Answer? There were not other bodies in the tomb.

[38:09] It specifically said it was a new tomb. So, that objection doesn't hold water. Here's an objection. The women went to the wrong place. And the answer is we're particularly told that Joseph went away.

[38:23] But the women stayed there and watched carefully. So, they couldn't go to the wrong place. Objection. It was an isolated and unreliable testimony.

[38:34] Answer? It was not isolated and unreliable. We're told specifically there were two women. There were eleven disciples and many more. more. But things are confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses.

[38:50] And Matthew makes sure there were two. They saw it. It's a strong, reliable testimony. And of course, the objection, the body was absent because it was stolen.

[39:00] Well, that's what he's saying. That's untrue. That's a lie. And it's described to us how such a lie was concocted. That lie is based on bribery and invention.

[39:16] Did you also notice, although it's in quite a short span, do you notice the vibes of power? This mighty angel rolling the stone away.

[39:29] This sort of nuclear fallout holiness. I've never been anywhere near a nuclear reactor or a nuclear explosion, but you could imagine the aftermath of something so great.

[39:42] And you get that sense here, don't you? The lightning, the fear, the sense of that, and the intensity of fear and joy.

[39:54] Something has happened to make the stoutest, hardest soldier tremble. And something has happened here to make the weakest, most timorous soul exult with joy.

[40:06] It's all mega. So now let me just, I started by saying there were two communities, two different groups of people. And please if you wouldn't mind summoning your patience and take a deep breath and let's look at these two communities.

[40:23] There's one community which is Jesus and his disciples. This is the resurrection community. And there's the opposing community, the community of death, as we shall see.

[40:34] Jesus and his disciples community are going to end up being Galilee based. The opponents seem to be Jerusalem based.

[40:46] I think I've missed something out but I hope it will pop up later. Let's see whether it pops up. Through Jesus and the disciples, the nations become disciples.

[41:01] on the other side we have this remarkable combination of the chief priests, the elders and Pilate all synagoguing together.

[41:16] The Jews and the Gentiles conspire together against the Lord and his anointed. The Jesus and disciples community begins with the women.

[41:29] Let it never be said that the Bible is anti-women. The key players in this are the women. The key witnesses are the women. The faithful servants are the women.

[41:40] Includes the disciples, the male disciples, the disciples en masse. But it begins with the role of faithful women. They are key players.

[41:52] The opponent group, well the key players there are the religious establishment, the chief priests, priests, and the elders, and Pilate, the representative of the state.

[42:09] That's the power brokers of the opposite community. Jesus and his disciples is a community where Jesus is seen as loved.

[42:21] Even if he's dead, we still love him and he's alive. This opposite community wants to make out Jesus as a deceiver. And this is all a deception.

[42:33] It's ironic actually, isn't it? That's what they want to say. It's all a deception. This community says we will lock it down and seal it up to the very best of our ability as best we know how.

[42:49] And this community finds an angel coming down, breaking the seal, rolling the stone away, frightening the guards, sitting on the stone.

[43:01] Something rather cosmic about that, isn't there? These guards, now you remember the wording? They become as dead. They become as dead men.

[43:14] This community, dead men become alive. This community has good news to report and the good news is he's risen.

[43:28] This community sends its messengers with good news and the good news is we made a right mess of this because we couldn't hold him down. This community is instructed, is taught, and what they're taught is a lie.

[43:46] We'll give you money, tell them something you know isn't true. That's the word instructed, verse 15. This community has the instructions of Jesus.

[43:57] Teach them all the things I commanded you. That's a much better teaching, isn't it? That's true teaching. This is lie teaching. This community, we were told that at the cross of Jesus, we're told this at the cross, those who slept, the tombs broke open and the bodies of many people who had literally slept were raised to life.

[44:25] That's what it says at the cross. Those who slept were raised to life. In this community, the people who were supposed to be on guard say we were asleep. That community puts people to sleep.

[44:41] That community tried to keep him in the grave. This community keeps his commandments. That community is the community of make-believe.

[44:53] This community is living a lie. They are saying he didn't rise from the dead. His body was stolen. That's the lie. This community is living in the real world.

[45:08] This is the truth. This is the community that is true. This is the community that worships Jesus. This is the community that has a positive mission to save the world.

[45:23] He almost sets it up as these two groups, doesn't he? people. I started off with the Marmite illustration. These two communities are not the same, they're different, you're in one or the other.

[45:37] I want to say please, this is the community of Jesus. This is the community which is not based in the power centers of the world, It's based other way than that.

[45:54] This is the community that disciples the nations. It's founded on not many noble, not many great, the women, the fishermen, that's the people that it is based in.

[46:11] This is the community that loved Jesus. This is the community where the power of heaven is made known. This is the community where the dead are made alive. This is the community that has the good news, he has risen. This is the community that is instructed by Jesus to keep his commands.

[46:26] This is the community where sleepers are raised from the dead. This is the community that keeps his commandments. This is the community to belong to. And I just simply want to say please get into that community.

[46:40] Please stop believing the lie. Get into the truth. Talk to God about it. Don't lose that opportunity. Say to God above all things that's the community I need to get into.

[46:57]  Whatever's necessary get me into that. We're going to close by singing.