The Glory of the Resurrection

[0:00] he is alive. Tell you what, without that, this is all for nothing. This is all for nothing.

[0:11] I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28, we're going to look at verses 1 through 11. And if you were at the sunrise service, I'm hitting the passage in between the two passages that I use out there.

[0:28] So it's not the same sermon, I promise. Matthew chapter 28, we're going to read verses 1 through 11, and then we'll pray together and then get started.

[0:42] So Matthew chapter 28, verse 1. Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

[0:53] And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

[1:04] And his appearance was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.

[1:21] He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. Now go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he's going ahead of you into Galilee, and there you will see him.

[1:38] Behold, I have told you. And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to report it to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them.

[1:52] And they came up and took a hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me.

[2:10] Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priest all that had happened. Father, we thank you for your word, and again we pray that you would illuminate our minds and help us to understand what your word says.

[2:26] Help us to see what it is that we need to see here in the text, that it might change our hearts and change our minds, that we might live for you.

[2:37] And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. There's a Latin phrase, and I promise with this Latin phrase I have it in the right order, and I'll say it the correct way.

[2:48] Some of you know what I'm talking about. Post Tenebrous Lux. Post Tenebrous Lux. It's from the book of Job, from the Latin Vulgate, but it became the motto of the Reformation.

[3:07] And what it means is, after darkness, light. I think it's an appropriate phrase for such a day as this, because one of the splendid things about light is that it illuminates, it ignites, and it invites.

[3:21] It has such a force. And with Friday and Saturday being dark, Christ coming forth on the Lord's Day Sunday, we have today the light after darkness.

[3:36] And would that we would come today to let this light in just a little bit, that it might illuminate our minds, ignite our souls, and invite us into a deep love of Christ.

[3:49] Christ. That's my goal. I want you to love Christ Jesus more when you leave than when you came in. And I think the way to see that and to do that and to grow in love with him is to see his glory.

[4:04] And I want us to look at the glory of the resurrection from three angles, as we see here in the text. And so the first is this, that we see the glory of the resurrection in the physical.

[4:16] Now, Matthew's gospel, unlike the others, doesn't have a lot related to the physical nature of the resurrection. But it does have one verse that sticks out to me, and it's verse 9, where it says that they came up and they took hold of his feet.

[4:33] The women did. If he were just a wispy spirit that was floating, they would not have been able to hold on to his feet. But here's the thing. The glory of the resurrection is that Jesus rose physically, bodily, from the dead.

[4:47] And when we say physically, what we mean is that the body that died, as it was raised back to life, was transformed into a more glorious body than the one that was buried.

[5:00] It was a glorious body because this body here that is decaying and growing old cannot withstand eternity. This body must be changed.

[5:14] Jesus' body was glorified. Now, we go back and say again, it was physical and glorified. In Luke's gospel, we hear how he said to his disciples, touch my hands, touch my side, give me something to eat.

[5:30] Spirits do not have flesh and bone. So he's getting at the fact that his resurrected body was a real corporeal existence. And that's how we will be for all eternity.

[5:42] When we die and all the world is over, and we are rejoined with our bodies, we will be able to run through heaven. We will have arms to hold one another, lips to kiss, hands to shake, voices to shout.

[6:01] It will be a physical, eternally physical existence. But it is not just a physical existence, but a glorious existence. That's what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 15, 42 through 44, where he talks about this is perishable, and this is imperishable.

[6:21] This is dishonor, and this is honor. This is weakness, and this is power. This is natural, and this is spiritual. This body is the perishable, dishonorable, weak body.

[6:35] And one day, it will have a glorified body like Christ. There is nothing more core to the Christian teaching than the resurrection of Christ from the dead bodily and physically.

[6:50] And to deny that, to deny that truth is to not be Christian at all. We must believe that Jesus rose from the grave physically and bodily.

[7:04] Because if he did not, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 again, that your faith is worthless and you're still in your sins. Do you understand that if Jesus had not risen from the dead physically, we would still be in our sins?

[7:18] A lot of people want to say this idea that like if Jesus didn't rise from the dead physically, then there is, there's nothing else to think about. There's nothing else to do. And sometimes it is that way.

[7:30] But Paul says, no, it's not just that there's nothing else to do. It's that you're still in your sins. In other words, we all know that there is some sort of God out there and some sort of God is going to hold us accountable for our behavior.

[7:45] Some sort of God is going to be there to hold us accountable for our sin. And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ rose from the grave and therefore our sin is atoned for.

[7:57] So what must we do? We must share the gospel with those who have no hope. You and I as believers, we need to make sure that as we share the gospel, we keep the resurrection front and center.

[8:13] There's not a lot of gospel tracks or even gospel presentations that keep the resurrection in it. It's all focused upon the death of Christ. And that's a very important thing.

[8:23] You can't leave out the death of Christ. But we need to keep the gospel, in the gospel, the resurrection front and center because we're telling them they need to believe in a Savior who is still alive.

[8:37] So many people want to say that being a Christian is a little bit like the debate among technologically minded people about whether it's Apple or Android. Now we know where some of you lie in that camp.

[8:54] And if you think about such a debate, that debate kind of goes like this where someone will line out all the reasons why you should take on the Android or you should take on the Apple and they will lay out their thoughts.

[9:07] And so what happens is that one person becomes convinced and then they sell their Android, go over to the Apple side or they sell the Apple and go over to the Android side. And so what they've done is that every time they become convinced of a new thought, they go like, well, I'm going to enter into this world.

[9:23] But here's the thing. When we are talking about Christianity, we're not talking about just a way of life. We're not talking about just a bunch of beliefs that you can say, I'm going to buy into that and that because that's what works for me.

[9:36] It's not as though there's Jesus among other gods and you get to sort of pick something. What we're saying is that because he rose from the grave physically and bodily, he is the only God there is.

[9:53] Because the fact of the matter is the resurrection of Jesus is historical fact. And I know there's so many people that deny that, but that's only been in the last 50 years.

[10:07] I know there's a few spots way back, there were a few people, but that is so, so rare. Everyone, everyone in the world knew that the resurrection of Jesus was a fact until we decided we didn't know what words meant.

[10:25] The fact is, is we see the glory in the physical resurrection of Christ. Secondly, we see the glory of the resurrection in its proclamation.

[10:38] In its proclamation, here's what's fascinating to me, that throughout this text, these few 11 verses we have, the resurrection gets proclaimed a bunch. The angels proclaim the resurrection, verses 5 through 7.

[10:53] He's proclaiming that Christ is risen, right? The women, the women are given charge to go proclaim the resurrection to the disciples. Verses 8 and 9.

[11:05] Run, go tell the disciples that I am risen. Here's the one that fascinates me the most though. The soldiers proclaim the resurrection.

[11:18] If you'll notice verse 11, it says that they went and told all that had taken place. These soldiers were there when the earth began to quake.

[11:28] These soldiers were there when the angel descended. These soldiers were there when the stone rolled away. These soldiers were there when the empty tomb was disclosed. These soldiers were so afraid in this moment that they fell down like dead men.

[11:43] And when they went back to the Pharisees, they told them all that had happened. Here are these Pharisees. Pharisees, listen, we have news for you.

[11:55] This is what happened. And what do the Pharisees do? Here, we're going to pay you to tell a lie. I mean, you've got people who have first-hand knowledge, who saw it, who have no theological bias.

[12:17] They're there to keep this from happening. And they're so afraid, they tell what's happened. And now, the Pharisees want to quiet them.

[12:30] That is what you call evil. Finally, Jesus himself proclaims the resurrection in verse 10. Tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.

[12:46] The resurrection is gloriously good news. It is news to be shared. This is why you and I are left here on earth.

[12:58] I mean, yes, you've trusted Christ, and you're thinking to yourself, well, why am I still here? You're still here, no matter what age you are, because he wants you to share the gospel, the good news of Christ, while you are here.

[13:10] There's no other reason for us to continue here. It is because he wants us to share the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, because death has been defeated, sin is forgiven, the grave has been robbed, life eternal won, victory is at hand, and the one who was resurrected is the one who proclaims to all people everywhere that they now must repent.

[13:33] And that's why we're here, is to share the gospel. And so I want to ask you Christians, I want to ask you, are you engaging with your neighbors?

[13:44] Are you engaging with your family? Are you engaging with your friends, with co-workers, about the gospel? I mean, yes, yes, yes, yes, we want you to take and invite them to come here and to hear the gospel.

[14:00] We want them to come and hear the preaching of the word, because we believe that this is something that we ought to be doing. But the ministry of the pulpit can only go so far. There needs to be the ministry of the pew as well.

[14:13] And that is that you have a responsibility, you have a duty, and you have a great privilege of sharing the good news of Christ to your family and to your friends.

[14:24] What would you be willing to do in order to share that good news with family and with friends?

[14:39] Where would you be willing to go in order to share that good news with family and friends? Christians, the resurrection is glorious because it is a proclaimed truth.

[14:56] Third, the resurrection is glorious, and we see its glory in the power. In the power.

[15:09] When you take a look at what's going on in this passage, the Sabbath day has come and gone, and the text tells us on the first day of the week.

[15:19] So here is the power of the resurrection. By the power of the resurrection, he has changed the one in seven worship schedule from Saturday, Sabbath, to first day of the week.

[15:34] You read through the Gospels, and you'll see after the resurrection that every time that Jesus appears to his disciples, it's on the first day of the week. He changed that Sabbath to a Sunday.

[15:46] And that is why, that is why sometimes you hear me say this is the Lord's day. That's because this is, matter of fact, I'll just say it this way. Every single Sunday is resurrection Sunday.

[16:01] I mean, I love for us to have Easter. I do, because I love chocolate bunnies. Wait a minute, you don't like chocolate bunnies?

[16:12] No, but, and it is good for us to come at this time of the year and to remember, because there are some people who are in our culture who have not heard the story of Christ. I know you may find that hard to believe, that somebody would not have heard the story of Christ, but this is a moment for us to remember what he has done and the power that is there.

[16:33] But never forget that every single Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the resurrection, he has changed our meeting time from the Sabbath to the first day of the week because Saturday is sacrifice and death and Sunday is life and joy.

[16:53] You understand? Because of the Sabbath? Hopefully you'll get that. Secondly, by his resurrection, the power of his resurrection, the power of his person just standing there, we see women who are fearful.

[17:14] And in chapter 27, verse 55, it talks about how they are following at a distance. They're afraid to approach. But now then, that time is over and they're coming up to the tomb because they're coming to check in on Jesus.

[17:28] But now the angel is there and the guards are there and there's a little bit of fear as they look at the angels, but it is Jesus as they see him that they walk away with great joy. People who were fearful because they encountered the resurrected king now walk away with joy.

[17:45] That is the power of the resurrection. The power of the resurrection is seen in the earthquakes. Did you know at his death the earth quaked? And here at his resurrection, it says it's a severe earthquake.

[18:01] Why is that? Because the creator of the cosmos is having these moments in time that are of epic proportions.

[18:13] When he dies, all the cosmos is reeled and rocked by that. And when their creator rises up again, the creation is groaning, is groaning with joy.

[18:24] Did you know the psalmist talks about how that if we will not praise him, even the rocks and trees will praise him. Here is Christ rising from the dead and the whole earth, the whole cosmos is shaking.

[18:40] By his power, the angels who are messengers of God bring a word from the Lord. They show up in power, in strength, in beauty, in holiness, and they deliver the message he is not here and just their presence causes these soldiers, hardened, trained soldiers, to fall out dead like dead men.

[19:08] And finally, when we begin to think about the power of the resurrection, where we need to turn with this in application is we need to turn and think about that not only was there power in raising Jesus from the dead, but that power has been extended to us in our Christian life as well.

[19:34] Let me say that again. The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that resides in us as Christians. Now, there are a lot of ways that we could explain that, but one of the ways that I love to explain this has to do with what we see in 1 Corinthians 15, 20, and 21 about what's called the first fruits.

[19:58] The first fruits. You'll remember that that verse says that Jesus is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. So as the resurrected Lord, He's the first fruits out of the grave, if you want to say it that way.

[20:12] And then we also know one of the constant themes throughout the New Testament is that He was raised on the third day.

[20:24] You ever thought to yourself, why the third day? As a matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, 4, it says that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

[20:41] Now, which Scriptures say that He's going to be raised on the third day? We could go to Jonah. We might could go to Hosea chapter 6.

[20:54] But I want to go someplace that brings first fruits and third day together. Genesis chapter 1. Then God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them.

[21:15] And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them after their kind. And God saw that it was good.

[21:28] And there was evening and there was morning a third day. And before I talk about third day, I want you to notice that it was evening and then morning, darkness and then light. Right?

[21:39] I think there's a reason for that. But then you will notice that the third day of the first creation is where the first fruits are. The first fruits of the first creation come about and are brought out by the power of God and these first fruits have in them the seeds for the future, the seeds for the next generation that would live.

[22:05] So the apple brought forth on the third day was the first fruits of all the apples we might eat today. Yes, I know ours are now genetically modified and scary.

[22:16] But you get the understanding here, right? So then what we have then in Christ being raised upon the third day is that in the third day of the new creation the second Adam himself is the first fruits and in him are the seeds of the power for our resurrection as well.

[22:42] So that's how it happens but here's the question what does that produce in us? What is this power in us? How does this power work in us?

[22:52] And I just want to give you a few things. I'll try not to go too fast in case you want to write these down. But it is the power of the resurrection that actually gives us new life causing us to be born again.

[23:07] First Peter chapter one verse three. In other words, if Jesus had not risen from the grave there would be no new birth. There would be no being born again if Jesus had not risen from the grave.

[23:19] And our new birth, our becoming Christians, is because of the power of the resurrection. Secondly, the power of the resurrection secures and finalizes our justification.

[23:33] Now if you don't know what justification is, Romans chapter four verse twenty five is where I'm getting this. Justification is God the judge declaring us to be righteous. We're not made righteous, but because we turn from our sin and turn to Christ, he declares us to be righteous.

[23:53] And the power of the resurrection is what secures and finalizes that justification. Third, the power of the resurrection, it is the power of the resurrection that promises and provides a new transformed body like his.

[24:11] That's what Philippians 3 twenty one is all about. That because he has a glorified body, we will have a glorified body. Next, it is the power of the resurrection that makes it so that we can walk in a new way of life.

[24:26] Romans 6 four. We've heard that all the time and every time somebody gets baptized and they walk out of the baptismal pool. I don't know what to call it baptismal pond found thing big tub back there.

[24:41] Every time somebody walks out of one of those things, almost every pastor I've ever heard says the same thing. raised to walk in newness life or new life. That whole new life that we have to be able to live the way God wants us to live comes by the power of the resurrection.

[25:01] It is the power of the resurrection that makes it so that we can bear fruit for God. Romans 7 four. You want to bear fruit in your life? You want to bear the fruit of the spirit?

[25:13] You want to bear fruit being like God growing in him? The only way to do that is by the power of the resurrection. It is the power of the resurrection that gives life to our bodies by the spirit who dwells within us.

[25:28] Romans 8 11. In other words, the spirit of God dwells in us and that gives life so that we can do the things he's called us to do. So Christians, what I'm saying is that the power to live the Christian life is bound up in the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[25:43] And that means something very important. Have you heard people say, well, that's just the way I am.

[26:01] you got someone they'll live a certain way, they'll act in a certain way, and everybody around them knows it's sinful for them to act that way.

[26:14] But the person themselves or their family or close people will all say, well, that's just the way they are. And this person usually is claiming to be a Christian.

[26:25] resurrection. But if the power of the resurrection is as we've just seen, then it is defaming and dishonoring to Christ to say, that's just the way I am.

[26:48] When he rose from the grave, he did not halfway rise up. He's not half dead, half alive.

[27:01] He's not some sort of zombie out of the grave. He is fully alive, glorified body, and all of that power resides in us by his spirit so that I can stop lying, so I can stop being greedy, so I can stop being angry, so I can stop holding a grudge, so I can stop lusting, so I can stop whatever it is.

[27:26] All of those things that we know we ought not do, that we excuse ourselves for doing, the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ makes it so we can stop that and live in a way that honors him.

[27:41] And when we don't, when we excuse it, we are defaming his resurrection. you and I are like a garden before the Lord and because of the power of the resurrection, we can weed that garden and we can water it so that it grows properly.

[28:01] Without the resurrection, all that will grow will be weeds. So we need to, number one, stop excusing our sinful behavior as being unchangeable because because we're sinners.

[28:17] And secondly, we need to start recognizing the power to live differently comes from the power of the resurrection. Paul, Paul summarizes this greatly in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 57 and 58.

[28:31] He says, therefore my beloved brethren, this is verse 58, therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast. Be steadfast, immovable.

[28:42] Be steadfast and immovable. Don't change your mind about the theology. Don't change your mind about who God is. Don't change your mind about anything else, about His creation, about His word, about all that He's done for us, about the death of Christ upon the cross.

[29:02] Don't let yourself be fooled into thinking that this is not really true. Don't let yourself get turned off of this by some other crazy doctrine out on here on the side. Stay steadfast and immovable.

[29:12] immovable. Stay faithful to the Lord. Be immovable. Do not let anyone knock you off the path, but just keep going.

[29:25] Always abounding in the work of the Lord. So never stop working for the Lord. Never stop, you know, trying to read His word. Never stop praying. Never stop sharing the gospel.

[29:36] Never stop praying for people. Maybe I didn't say this, but before I finish this, let me just tell you this. This passage comes after Paul has spent 56 verses talking about the resurrection of Christ.

[29:52] The resurrection of Christ, our resurrection, His power over all things, and the conclusion is, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And here's this last thing, and this is so good.

[30:05] knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Because you got some people in your life that you keep sharing with and you keep sharing with and you keep sharing with, and after a couple of years, you're kind of like, man, nothing's happening.

[30:24] They're not moving. They're not getting any better. They're not believing anything. Why should I keep doing this? This is just vanity. Maybe I should talk to somebody else who will actually respond the right way.

[30:37] And he says, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. And maybe you've got that loved one that you're praying for, and you've been praying for them for years.

[30:47] You've been praying years and years and years. You want to see them saved. You want to see them come to know. You want to see them come to know the Lord?

[31:04] Pardon me. You think to yourself, I don't have it to keep praying.

[31:23] I don't have it to keep giving. I don't have it to keep sharing. I don't have it to be able to see them change because nothing's happening and nothing's happening. And it's like you beat your head against the wall.

[31:37] But it is the power of the resurrection, the power of the resurrection that gives us the conclusion that says it's not in vain.

[31:50] You may never see that loved one converted to Christ. You may never see your loved one who fights with some sort of sin that ruins their life, and you may never see them conquer that.

[32:01] But your labor is never, ever, ever in vain. Because Christ rose from the dead. And the power of the resurrection can save anyone.

[32:28] I had a secretary once. She used to, she sat down with me after about a month of me being at the church, and she gave me her life story, and she began to tell me all the terrible things that she had done, all the terrible things that had been done to her.

[32:50] And she used to say to me all the time, Brady, if anyone could save me. No, Brady, if God can save me, he can save anyone.

[33:07] And I just want to end this by saying that maybe you feel like you've gone too far. Maybe you feel like you've wandered away from the Lord for too far.

[33:17] You lost your faith. Maybe you lost your cool, lost your anger so much that it's ruined your life. Or maybe you've lost some sort of prized idea, some prized dream, some prized person in your life.

[33:29] Maybe it's been your purity. Maybe you just don't even care anymore. And so maybe you think to yourself that all of this talk about the power of the resurrection, well, it's just too much for me. I've gone too far, and I'm way down the road.

[33:42] I'm here to tell you that the power of the resurrection can save you too. Would that your eyes would be opened by the Lord because Christ has been raised from the dead.

[34:05] So turn, turn from trusting in yourself and turn to trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.