[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Go with me if you would to Matthew chapter 27. He is risen. And I want to start off with the testimony of the centurion.
[0:13] I want you to know that he was dead. I want you to know that he was dead. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 54, Now when the centurion and they that were with him, the centurion and his men, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly saying, Truly, this was the Son of God.
[0:38] Father, I pray today that you would help us to know that truly, Jesus is the Son of God. There is a real heaven. There is a real hell. The Bible is the truth and everybody must recognize that.
[0:51] I pray God that you would cause people today to see their need of a Savior and to be saved. I pray, dear God, that you would help Christians to get excited about the message we have to share. I pray, God, that this would be real in our lives.
[1:03] And I'll give you great honor and glory and praise for all you do. In Jesus' name, amen. Jesus had died. He's dead to the satisfaction of the Roman government.
[1:15] The centurion, the soldier who is there, doesn't even break his legs. At the end of the day, they broke the legs of the other two fellows so they would go ahead and die quickly.
[1:26] Because as they hung on the cross, they would have to breathe. And they were hanging, nailed to a cross. They would pull themselves up and push up with their legs. They didn't even break Jesus' legs.
[1:38] They stabbed him with a spear. Water and blood came out. They knew that he was dead. But he didn't just die. He willingly gave up the ghost. He willingly gave up his spirit. He willingly gave up his life.
[1:50] Because if you know anything about the Christian story, if you know anything about the Bible story, if you know anything about it, Jesus wasn't killed. Though they did kill him, he willingly died.
[2:00] He on purpose, intentionally came from heaven to die. And he laid down his life on the cross. And the centurion realized that Jesus was truly the Son of God.
[2:12] He had watched him die. He had heard and seen what had happened. He had felt the earthquake. And he cried out that they had really crucified the Son of God. Jesus had been exactly who said he was.
[2:26] Jesus was literally, physically dead. The death sentence was carried out. You might say, why is that so important? Because so many people like to attack the resurrection.
[2:38] So many people like to deny the resurrection. So many people like to say other things. The centurion in charge of killing him said, he's dead. Jesus died.
[2:49] Number two. Look if you went to Matthew chapter 27 and verse 57. He was buried. Jesus was dead. And now he is buried. Verse 57 says, when evening was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who was also himself a Jesus disciple.
[3:08] He went to Pilate. He begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth.
[3:18] And he laid it in his own tomb, which he had hewn out of a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed. There was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulcher.
[3:30] Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus till now, comes and asks for the body. In John chapter 19 and verse 38, the Bible said he was a secret disciple.
[3:42] Secretly for fear. He was afraid if he let people know, he'd lose position. This little rich guy. This is an important guy. This guy's got position and power and popularity.
[3:55] He has everything. And he knows if he tells people that he's with Jesus, it's liable to hurt him. Mark chapter 14 or 15 verse 43. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the council. He was one of the ones.
[4:06] He actually voted that Jesus not die. So at great risk and great personal sacrifice, he buries Jesus. His tomb, it's a walk-in tomb.
[4:20] It's carved out of a rock. And you walk in. You can bury people in different niches. And he walks in and he buries Jesus. That was an expensive grave. But more than that, he walked away from his physician and his friends who had wanted to crucify Jesus.
[4:35] The great care and expense that Joseph uses as he buries Jesus gives us the idea that Joseph did not think Jesus would soon rise again.
[4:47] It's obvious nobody is expecting Jesus to really live. They heard what he said. They knew what he said. But they didn't believe.
[4:58] The government, his disciples, and now his friends have recognized that Jesus is dead. The people that most believed seemed to be the religious crowd.
[5:13] And so they made sure nobody could steal his body. In Matthew chapter 27 and verse 62. Now the next day that followed, the day of the preparation of the chief priests and Pilate, they all get together.
[5:24] They have a discussion. And they decide, let's go make sure Jesus can't get out. Let's go make sure they can't steal his body. They weren't afraid he would rise again. They didn't really believe he was going to rise again.
[5:36] But they thought maybe those 11 men that were still on Jesus' side, maybe those ladies, maybe the friends, would come. And they would get the body of Jesus out and sneak it out by night while no one was watching.
[5:48] So they could perpetuate the lie that they thought had been told. So we can learn some lessons from the grave of Jesus. Let me give you about five real quick lessons I think we learned.
[6:01] The first lesson you learn is that Jesus, God in human flesh, humbled himself to be killed, to die, and to be buried. How could he possibly love us so much?
[6:14] You know that the creator came to live among his creation. He came among the parts, the pottery, the clay pots, the clay pieces he'd made.
[6:24] That's what we are. And he came down and he lived among us. Then he let our people take his life. And then he let us bury him. He who gives life, let him take his life. And he was buried.
[6:35] That grave ought to tell you something. This is real. God is real. And God loves you. And God was willing to pay the price so that you can be saved.
[6:46] If you're here this morning and you've never come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you're here this morning and you doubt that there is a real eternity, if you're here this morning and you doubt that there's a real heaven and a real hell, if those questions are in your mind, you're in the wrong place.
[7:00] Because in this place we recognize that there is a heaven and there is a hell. We recognize that God is alive. We recognize that Jesus did die. And the grave proves that he loves us, that he cares about us, that he wanted us to go to heaven, and he wants you to go to heaven, and he cares about you.
[7:20] The second thing is his grave reminds me that I will soon be there. You don't ever drive by a graveyard. Graveyards give you the heebie-jeebies. Graveyards kind of, we don't like graveyards.
[7:34] Most of us don't enjoy graveyards. Most of us would not choose to camp out at night in the middle of a graveyard. Most of us would say, don't really want to go there. Because it reminds us of our mortality.
[7:45] And his grave reminds us of that. And you and I will soon be put in a hole somewhere and dirt cover us up, unless the rapture comes. The third thing is it reminds me of how horrible, really it was the second thing, I just missed it.
[7:59] How horrible our sin was. How horrible our sin was. That put Jesus there. You know why he died. He died for us. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 5, He was wounded for our transgressions.
[8:17] He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement, the punishment of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed.
[8:28] So the reason Jesus died and the reason Jesus was buried and the reason Jesus was put in a tomb was because of my sin and because of your sin, because of your failing God and my failing God.
[8:40] And that's why Jesus died. When I see the grave, I also realize this. Jesus defeated death and the grave. So I have certain hope.
[8:51] Jesus defeated death and the grave. So when I look at the grave of Jesus Christ today, it's empty. And when I realize it's empty, I realize that the Creator God who made me, the Creator God who made all this world, the Creator God who loved us enough to put on human flesh and live among us, the Creator God who was willing to die on a cross and be buried, overcame death, overcame the grave and is alive today.
[9:14] So I have true hope in Him. When I see the empty grave, I know that Jesus not only defeated death and the grave and now has victory, but I know He came to save me completely to the uttermost.
[9:30] Look at Hebrews 7 and verse 25 with me and underline this in your Bible. Hebrews 7 and verse 25, look at this. Wherefore, He is able to save them to the uttermost.
[9:41] He is able to save us to the uttermost, to the extreme, to the limit that comes unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession. Listen to this.
[9:52] Salvation in Christianity is not about just living now. It's not about the fact that you can have an abundant life now. The Bible does say in John 10, 10, the thief comes from up to steal, to kill and destroy.
[10:03] But Jesus has come that we might have life and we might have it more abundantly. But it's not about just that. It's about much more than that. It's about what happens at the end of my life. It's about what happens in forever.
[10:15] He has come to save us to the uttermost. We will be like Him someday. Those of us who have believed Him, death is not the end. The saddest place you can possibly stand is a graveyard.
[10:28] I've been, I lived in Peru for 18 years and as I would go to the graveyard and I often went there because I was preaching or taking somebody there or somebody's family was dying. And I stood there while they weeped and wailed.
[10:39] I've watched lost people, people who don't know Jesus as their loved ones died and they had no hope. I've watched them try to pull the bodies out of the casket and hug them and kiss them. I've watched them cry and I've heard those screams.
[10:51] You and I don't have that. He saves to the uttermost. He saves all the way. We're not just saved to have a nice life now. We're saved forever. And in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2, the Bible says, Beloved, now we are the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
[11:17] The beautiful, wonderful truth of the Word of God is, not what they teach on television, not what they tell about you dying and somebody dying and going to heaven and looking at it. The wonderful truth is that the God of heaven saves us and has life for us, everlasting life.
[11:32] After this life, we're going to heaven. That's a beautiful truth. Amen? First lesson I want you to see is He's dead. He was dead. You need to know that He really died.
[11:43] Jesus Christ died on the cross intentionally on purpose. He died and He was dead. He was declared dead. He was viewed as dead. Number two, He was buried. And He was truly buried.
[11:53] And that's important because Matthew 28, 1 wouldn't have so much meaning if He wasn't really dead. He was dead. And He was buried. And He was in that grave for three days and three nights.
[12:06] Now go with me if you would to Matthew 28, 1. The stone was rolled away. The stone was rolled away. In the end of the Sabbath or the end of Saturday, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Sunday, on Sunday morning, early, early morning, before it was day, a great while before it was day, we find in another verse, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the sepulcher.
[12:28] But on the way to the sepulcher, there was a great earthquake. And the stone was rolled away. And the stone was rolled away. Verse 6 says, He is not here, for He is risen.
[12:40] Come and see. He's not here. He is risen. Come and see. The angel had come to roll the stone away, not to let Him out, but to let them in.
[12:52] He didn't need to be let out. You're going to say that the Creator can't move a rock? You're going to say that the Creator, who can make everything, can't move a rock? He could have moved the rock.
[13:03] The stone was rolled away, so we'd know He was not there. The guards, big, burly, Roman soldiers, who cut men with swords and watched blood drip on their hands, men who were afraid of nothing, are trembling and shaking, and then they pass out.
[13:20] Then they pass out. Look if you would, look if you would in verse 2, Matthew 28, 2, And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone.
[13:32] Verse 3, His countenance was like lightning. Verse 4, And for fear of Him, the keepers, the centurion and His men, they shook, and they became as dead men.
[13:43] They had an earthquake. They felt an earthquake, but they had an earthquake in their heart. They were like, What in the world? These guys don't get scared. These guys get put in battles where people are fighting all around them.
[13:55] Spears are flying. Burning oil is coming. Rocks are being thrown their way. They're slinging their swords. They're killing people. These are not guys that get scared. These are tough men, but they were terrified, and they passed out like dead men laying there.
[14:10] The angel knows why they've come to the grave, and he invites them to come and see where the Lord has been laying. But the Lord is not there. He has risen.
[14:22] The resurrection teaches us certain basic truths. The first truth it teaches us is that the Word of God is totally true and reliable. The resurrection happened just like He said it would.
[14:37] If you've got your Bible open, and you're in the book of Matthew, which is the book we're studying now, verse by verse, and we'll run back to Matthew chapter 6 next week, but if you're in your Bible, Matthew chapter 12, and verse 40, it says, For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
[14:54] Jesus said that while He was still living. Jesus said that when He was not under threat of death. He turns to His disciples and says, Hey, I'm going to die, and they're going to bury me, and I'm going to be dead for three days and three nights.
[15:07] Okay? Happens in Matthew 27 and 28. In Matthew chapter 16 and verse 21, From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised again the third day.
[15:24] Before He ever dies, He says, Guys, I came here. My life is on a plan. I am working out what the Father wants me to do. I'm doing exactly what He said. I'm doing exactly what I want to do.
[15:34] I'm the author and the finisher of your faith, and I'm on my way to town, and they're going to mistreat me. They're going to beat me. They're going to kill me. I'm going to be buried. He tells the whole story. He tells the whole story.
[15:46] Maybe if you'd have been there, you'd have thought, Man, he's kind of a pessimistic type guy. He's kind of a whiny type guy. It's like he's going to die. It's like all this bad stuff's going to happen.
[15:56] But He was telling them, I am who I say I am, and what I say is going to happen. In Matthew chapter 17 and verse 9, they come down off the mountain after the transfiguration, and Jesus charged them saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen from the dead.
[16:16] They've been up on a mountain, and man, they've had great experience. God's spoken to them. They've seen great people from the past. They've had this wonderful experience, and as they come down off the mountain, Jesus says, Guys, I'll tell you what.
[16:29] I'll let you see something special, but don't tell anybody. Not until I'm alive again. I'm going to die. I'm going to be buried, and I'm coming back. Don't tell anybody until then. In Matthew chapter 17 and verse 23, And they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again.
[16:46] And the disciples were exceeding sorry. Jesus is obviously who He said He was. He's the Son of God. He has power over life and death. That's the big lesson.
[16:58] Resurrection teaches me that Jesus is exactly who He said He was. The resurrection teaches me that salvation is complete. He has conquered sin and death, the grave and the hell, and the sacrifice has been accepted.
[17:11] Do you understand what happened? Jesus was talking, and maybe it wasn't true. Jesus was talking, and maybe you thought He was a kook. Jesus was talking, and maybe you didn't believe it. But then He died.
[17:22] Okay? So everybody dies. And then He was buried. So everybody gets buried. But by the way, when He died, there was an earthquake that said, Wake up, town. He just died. He didn't say, Wake up, town.
[17:33] He just died. He even raised some people from the dead when He died. He was dead three days, and then when He arose, an earthquake shakes, and a rock is moved, and He's alive. It's real.
[17:46] This is God saying, Hey, everything Jesus said is true. Now we know the church really does have the power of God to do what Jesus said.
[17:56] Because Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail. Jesus said that. Jesus turns to the disciples and says, I'm starting a church, boys, and don't worry.
[18:08] I'll take care of things. And you could have easily thought, He's going to die, and it's all over. He didn't die, it was all over. He died, and He was buried, and He rose again. It also tells you that judgment is coming.
[18:19] The Bible said in John 5, 22, The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son. Do you know what happened? Did you know that God the Father has committed all judgment to the Son?
[18:30] And did you know that if you today refuse to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, if you today refuse to accept the free gift of salvation that He offers you, you will someday face the one who died for you, face the one who paid your debt, face the one who bought your salvation, and face the one that did all that for you, and you will say, I didn't want you then, and I don't want you now.
[18:49] And you will receive your just reward. Jesus is the judge. You reject Him today, you'll stand before Him someday as the one who rejected Him. Judgment's been committed to Him.
[19:01] The resurrection proves that He really is preparing us a place. In John chapter 14, verse 2, He said, In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.
[19:11] I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also. Hey guys, I'm going to die. Let not your hearts be troubled.
[19:22] You that believe in God, believe also in me. I'm going to die. Things are going to happen. But don't worry. I'm leaving. I'll prepare you a place, but I will be back. You couldn't believe that if He had to come back to life.
[19:34] It could have been the ravings of a madman, but they were the ravings of the God-man. They're the ravings of the man, God in human flesh, who would die on a cross to bring us salvation.
[19:45] Go with me if you would to Matthew chapter 28 and verse 7. So the resurrection gives urgency to our message and to our ministry. The resurrection gives urgency to our message and to our ministry.
[19:57] In verse 7, He said, Go quickly and tell the disciples. In verse 8, They departed quickly, and with fear and great joy they ran.
[20:09] You've got to imagine what's happening. People are a little nervous that day. Can you imagine what's going on in China today? Police come. I don't care who you are. I don't care how tough you are. I don't care how resolute Jake looks in the picture as they haul him off to jail.
[20:22] Your heart's got to be beating a little bit faster. You've got to have a little bit of a rise in adrenaline knowing, Hey, I'm getting arrested for preaching the gospel. Can you imagine all of a sudden the tomb is open and Jesus is alive and you saw Him?
[20:36] And He said, The angel said to you, Hey, He's alive. He's not here. Go tell everybody. They took off running. They're like, Man, Wow! I ain't never seen nothing like this. This is the craziest thing I've ever seen.
[20:46] And they run with fear, but great joy. He really is alive. He really is alive. This message that we preach, everything we've done, the last three and a half years have not been wasted.
[21:00] By the way, as they go running in verse 9, they meet Jesus, and they fall down, and they grab Him by the feet, and they won't let go, and they worshiped Him. They were to quickly go and tell the disciples. They took off running, a little afraid, but super happy, and full of joy.
[21:15] And when they saw Jesus again, they fell at His feet, and they held His feet, and they worshiped Him. That's not a normal stance that people have. You don't fall down and grab somebody's feet unless you know who He is. They didn't see Jesus as their mentor.
[21:28] They didn't see Jesus as their buddy. They didn't put their hand in the hand of the man. They said, this is God in human flesh who died on the cross and was buried and rose again, and I am only worthy to throw myself at His feet and hold His feet.
[21:45] The Jews believed in the resurrection except for the Sadducees. Everybody believed it was going to happen, but that someone had actually risen, that has to be life-changing.
[21:57] It's kind of like us. We're all like, well, we know there's going to be a rapture, but when it happens, we're all probably going to go, wow! Wasn't really expecting that. I mean, it's kind of like we all believe in a resurrection, but can you imagine?
[22:09] He's alive! I mean, it's like, okay, we know everybody's going to live someday, but we ain't never seen it with our own eyes, and there He is standing up. Things have been happening quickly.
[22:21] Two earthquakes, a burial, a resurrection, a veil torn in the temple, other dead people have risen. The cross and the gospel changed the lives of the apostles and the early church for all of eternity.
[22:35] They'll never be the same. Eleven redneck fishermen, and all of a sudden, they are going to be the messengers of hope who will share that gospel everywhere.
[22:51] The resurrection screams of the truth that they had learned. They will become radical preachers, radical livers, radical givers, radical servers willing to die for what they've seen and what they've heard, and off they go.
[23:06] By the way, everybody would like to try in some way to deny the resurrection. It's like the craziest thing in the world. Everything screams. He really did arise from the dead. Everything screams. The eleven fishermen aren't smart enough to outsmart a hundred trained Roman soldiers.
[23:22] You got the CIA there guarding him, and eleven fishermen that are going to get him out. Probably not. Probably not. You got a trained man there.
[23:33] They're not probably going to get him out. That's not what happened. He arose. You want to hear what's really wild and crazy? These eleven guys who were regular guys. Man, they hadn't even been to college. They were common people, and yet in the next fifty years, they will turn the world literally upside down.
[23:50] They will write a Bible under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They will start churches all over the world, and everybody will know, and we'll even split history and Jesus.
[24:02] All due to some guys who must have really believed it. They must have really believed it. Eleven guys never got in an argument. No, he didn't really rise. Peter made that up. That never happened. They all knew.
[24:13] It was for real. You should know. It was for real. The fifth thing I'd like to show you is Matthew 28, verse 11. The lies began immediately. Let me just tell you, religion hates Jesus.
[24:29] Religion hates Jesus. The guys that were guarding him, they ran to town to tell the Jews something had happened, and they got to the Jews, and the Jews said, man, you can't let this out.
[24:42] If people find this out, they say this ain't going to go good. We got a good thing going. Religion's always a good money-making thing. Religion's always a good thing to control people with and have them under fear.
[24:54] But this isn't religion. This is God. This isn't a bunch of rules and regulations. This is God. And they said, you go tell them, you tell everybody that you all got, you fell asleep, you got sleep, and you all went to sleep.
[25:09] You got to understand the rules. You see, if a Roman soldier lost his prisoner, he had to give his life for that prisoner. They were going to have to die. But they said, you tell them, and we'll go tell your leaders not to kill you.
[25:24] Go tell the lie. So lives began about Jesus rising from the dead immediately. And for 2,000 years, they've done everything they can. Religion does everything it can to deny that Jesus is alive.
[25:37] But he's alive. They made up all kind of dumb stories. They made up stories about how he fainted and how he got wrapped up in that 100 pounds of sweet-smelling Celsius and that rag and the door closed and somehow he got up and left or somebody stole his body but they took off.
[25:58] They unwrapped him and left the clothing folded there. All the wild stories. But it was true. They made up wild stories but the truth is. They told the religious leaders the truth but they didn't want to hear it, believe it, or allow anyone else to.
[26:13] They convinced the soldiers to lie. A lie that would normally get them killed but religion was going to bribe officials to keep their storyline going. It was such an obvious lie that people everywhere knew what had happened.
[26:25] It was common knowledge. All that stuff happened to Jesus. Everybody knows the story. Everybody's talking. Religion is a system of rules and regulation.
[26:37] It has a desire to help a man feel good about himself but to protect itself because man naturally wants to rebel. But Jesus is something entirely different.
[26:48] He is God in human flesh. He dies, gets buried, and rises again. Religion wants to take away his power.
[27:01] They must lie. They've denied that he really died. They think he fainted and regained consciences. The disciples stuck his body out and deceived the people. But the truth is that something so big happened that the apostles, which were common men, would turn the whole world upside down in one generation.
[27:21] I wish you'd believe the resurrection. I wish you'd understand something great happened. You're here today and this isn't a day about the Easter bunny and it isn't a day about Easter eggs.
[27:32] It's a day about God becoming man, dying on a cross, being buried, and rising again from the dead. You listen to what I'm going to tell you.
[27:44] If you don't believe the resurrection, you will never quit living just like no one else. everybody in this room, we live forever. We live forever, either in the presence of God in heaven or forever in the place separated from God that we call hell.
[28:04] We live in a place of torment and horror or we live in the presence of God. And the great God of heaven sent Jesus to die on a cross and Jesus died on a cross to save us, to give you eternal life, to pay your sin debt, to give you new life.
[28:22] He is risen. The great message is He is risen means you too will live again forever in heaven in His presence in wonderful, wonderful, excited, living, abundant life in the presence of God if you repent of your sin and turn to Jesus.
[28:42] So this morning I ask you, what will you do with the resurrection? Let's bow our heads for prayer. Father in heaven, I love you and I thank you for the opportunity to teach your word and I pray that your name would be magnified and glorified and I pray that people this morning that don't know you as their personal Savior might come to know you.
[29:01] I pray that you'd show your power in a real way. I pray you'd save somebody. God, there's some people visiting here and they've been playing with you and playing with religion and playing with Christ for a long time.
[29:14] They know they're playing a game. They know they're not genuine. They know they're not real and I'm asking you to convict them to drive them to their knees to cause them this morning to humble themselves and be saved.
[29:27] There are Christians that have been taking lightly what you do. They're not faithful to you, not faithful to your service, not faithful to love you and I pray that you convict them to love you like they never have.
[29:37] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.