Good morning, Watermark.
Our scripture reading for today is from the book of Matthew, chapter 27 and 28.
Starting in verse 62, we read,
The next day, that is after the day of preparation,
the chief priests and the parrises gathered before Pilate and said,
Sir, we remember how that imposter said while he was still alive.
After three days I will rise.
Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day.
Lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people,
He has risen from the dead, and the last fraud will be worse than the first.
Pilate said to them,
You have a guard of soldiers. Go. Make it secure as you can.
So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
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 woman,
Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
He is not here, for he has risen.
And he said, Come, see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.
And behold, he is going before you to Galilee.
There you will see him.
See, I have told you.
So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy
and ran to tell his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings.
And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
Then Jesus said to them,
Do not be afraid.
Go and tell my brothers to go to the Galilee,
and there they will see me.
While they were going, behold,
some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had taken place.
And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel,
they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said,
Tell people his disciples came by night
and stole him away while we were asleep.
And if this comes to the governor's ears,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.
So they took the money and did as they were directed.
And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Thank you, Riza.
Good morning, everybody.
Great to see if you're new to Watermark.
My name is Kevin.
And great to have you with us this morning.
Before we start, great to see so many guests and visitors.
Welcome.
Lovely to have you with us.
Also great to see Andrew and Akasha with little Ezekiel back.
Ezekiel's two months old.
And great to have you guys back, part of the family.
And also great to have Sarah.
Sarah was a Watermark many years ago,
nine, ten years ago.
Moved to Singapore and back visiting.
Great to have you with us today, Sarah.
Let's pray as we consider this scripture together.
Won't you join me as we pray together?
Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,
we celebrate in the fullest sense of the word,
the wonder of Easter.
And God, as we come to your word this morning,
I pray that you will speak to us.
Not just speak to our minds,
but you will speak to our hearts.
We pray, God, that you will take what is written in your word
and you will write it in our hearts.
And God, you will give us fresh hope
and fresh confidence and fresh conviction
about who you are
and for those of us that are in Christ,
who we are in you.
God, we pray that you will be with us in our midst
in your wonderful and gracious name.
Amen.
Many years ago, Professor Cyril Edwin Joad,
who was once the head of philosophy and psychology
at University of London,
he was also a public figure, a broadcaster.
He was asked the question,
of all the people in history,
who would you most like to interview
and what question would you like to ask them?
And at this stage in his life,
Joad had abandoned his Christian faith.
He considered himself an agnostic.
And he answered the question,
I would most like to meet Jesus Christ.
And the question I would ask him
is the most important question in all the world,
did you or did you not rise from the dead?
Well, Professor Joad is right when he says
this is the most important question in all the world.
Because upon the veracity or the truthfulness
of Christianity's claim that Jesus Christ died and rose again,
upon the truthfulness of that claim,
as Jesus said would happen,
as the Old Testament said would happen,
Christianity stands or falls.
In fact, the Apostle Paul,
one of the early leaders in the church
and a guy who wrote much of the New Testament,
said that if Jesus' resurrection is proved false,
we, our Christians, are the most pitied of all people in the world
because our faith is futile.
Our belief is delusional.
Our hope is baseless.
In fact, it is no hope at all.
And that's what Matthew wants us to see
in the passage that Reza read to us this morning.
Matthew wants those of us
that consider ourselves followers of Jesus
to live with conviction and certainty
regarding the historical reality of Christ's death and resurrection.
Some of us may be here this morning.
Maybe you've got doubts
about whether the resurrection of Jesus really happened
or whether it was something metaphorical,
something that happened in people's hearts.
Maybe some of us here consider ourselves Christians,
but just the grind of life,
the everyday difficulty of life,
kind of makes us wonder,
what's the relevance of it anyway?
I mean, why does it really matter?
Maybe you've been a follower of Jesus,
but as you've been reading and thinking,
the narrative of our culture
has put doubts in your mind.
Well, today, Matthew wants us
to have greater conviction and certainty
regarding the resurrection of Jesus.
And so he does that in this passage
by showing us two things.
Firstly, he wants to show us
the extensive effort of the religious leaders.
And secondly, he wants to show us
the matchless power of God.
So let's look at those two things in turn.
Firstly, the extensive effort of the religious leaders.
If you've got your Bible or your bulletin
open up in front of us,
we're going to be looking at the scripture
and diving into it.
But our passage today that Reza read to us
has three clear sections to it.
It's broken down there in the bulletin for you.
In the first section, verse 62 to 66,
tells us about how the religious leaders,
is their extensive efforts to avert or forestall
or even stop the resurrection of Jesus happening.
And in the last section, in chapter 28, verses 11 to 15,
we see the extensive effort of the religious leaders
to discredit the resurrection once they know about it.
And so look at verse 62 with me.
It says,
The next day, that is the day after the preparation,
the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
and they said to him,
Sir, we remember how that imposter said
while he was still alive,
after three days I will rise.
Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure.
Now immediately we should be struck
by the urgency of the religious leaders
to crush any idea that Jesus would rise from the dead.
Matthew tells us that the day after Jesus died,
which is a Saturday,
which is a Jewish Sabbath,
the day of rest where no Jew should do any work
or gather before anyone else,
and especially on this day,
which is the Passover Sabbath,
the one day in the year
where all the religious leaders should be either at home
or gathering with God's people in the temple,
these religious leaders are hustling and bustling,
very busy with activity,
gathering before Pilate,
a non-Jew,
as they make this attempt
to cover over Jesus' resurrection.
And they gather before Pilate
and they ask that the tomb be securely sealed and guarded.
John Stott calls this
an astonishing breach of Sabbath law
that no other incident in the Gospels
show how clearly desperate the authorities were
to eliminate Jesus.
You'll no doubt remember,
if you're familiar with the Gospels,
how often Jesus gets in trouble
with these very religious leaders
for breaking the Sabbath law
because he's often healing somebody that's sick
or raising somebody back to life.
Here these same religious leaders
are breaking Sabbath law
to make sure that Jesus stays well and truly dead.
And notice what they call Pilate.
Did you notice the first word?
Sir, they say.
In Greek, the word is kiriia.
It's a word that honors somebody in authority.
It's a word of submission.
But it's a word that means Lord.
In fact, in Matthew's Gospel,
it only ever refers to Jesus
or God himself.
And yet here,
the religious leaders go to Pilate
and call him Lord.
Matthew wants us to see
that the authorities
are submitting themselves to Pilate
the way believers are submitted,
are meant to submit themselves to God alone.
Now, in this passage,
they come to Pilate and they say,
we heard that that imposter
had made some claims.
He was gonna rise after three days.
Let's secure the tomb
to make sure that it doesn't happen.
And it's a bit hard to know
what their motivation is.
Are they concerned
that the disciples
are going to steal Jesus' body away
and then make this claim?
That's what they say in verse 64.
Or are they mainly concerned
that Jesus might just do
what he said he would do?
I mean, it's hard to know.
Certainly, they've seen
and heard of Jesus' powers,
his miraculous healing of the sick,
his curing of leprosy,
his raising of Lazarus from the dead.
He claimed more than six times
in Matthew's gospel alone
that he would die and rise again.
They know about these claims.
They say so themselves.
And on the other hand,
where are the disciples?
The disciples are nowhere
to be seen at this point, right?
In fact, we haven't heard
from the disciples
since Judas betrayed Jesus.
Peter denied him.
And the disciples all flee at his arrest.
The disciples are long gone.
And the greatest concern
of the Pharisees here
is not the disciples.
I think their concern is Jesus.
That just maybe,
Jesus really would do
what he said he would do.
And so look at how many times
they used the word secure
in the first few verses.
Verse 64.
Lord, sir, they say,
order the tomb to be made secure.
Verse 65.
Pilate said,
you have a guard of soldiers.
Go and make the tomb secure as you can.
So they went away
making the tomb secure
by sealing the stone
and setting a guard.
The irony is,
Donald Hagner says,
is that Jesus' opponents
took his own words
about his rising from the death
more seriously
than Jesus' own disciples did.
Well, whatever their motivating fears are,
their fears are certainly motivating them.
Because look at their ironic behavior.
Verse 63.
They say,
they go to Pilate
and what do they call Jesus?
They call him an imposter.
A deceiver.
Somebody wants to hide the truth.
Well, look at their behavior
in verse 11.
When the guards
told the chief priests
all that had taken place,
they assembled the elders
and took counsel.
They gave them
sufficient sum of money.
That's a lovely term.
I'd love to know
what that really means.
Very ominous term, right?
They gave a sufficient sum of money
to the soldiers
and they said,
tell the people
his disciples came at night
and stole them away
while we were asleep.
And if it comes
to the governor's years,
we will satisfy him
and keep you out of trouble.
So they say,
listen,
this imposter,
this deceiver,
he doesn't,
this guy who lies to everyone,
oh, wait, wait.
Let's just lie
and keep the story
covered up
with a nice sum of money.
And amazingly,
the chief priests
and the Pharisees
are the first people
in the history of the world
to hear the good news of Easter.
Jesus is risen
from the grave.
And yet for them,
it's the worst news ever.
Their worst fears
are realized.
And yet worse than that,
actually for them,
I wonder if they realize
that they contributed
to the veracity
of the fact
that the tomb was empty.
I mean, think about it.
If they had not had
a bunch of guards
seal the tomb,
watching over the tomb,
if they'd left it as it was
and then Jesus' body disappeared,
it would have been far easier
to them say,
oh, well,
I guess his disciples
came in the middle of the night
and stole his body away.
But by putting
a bunch of armed guards there,
sealing the tomb,
doing everything
they can
to make sure
that there's no ways
anybody can steal the body,
then when the body's not there,
well, it's hard to say.
I guess his disciples
came in the night, right?
It's a little harder
to say that
with all the security measures
they put in place.
Daniel Doriani says,
it's a delicious irony
that by trying
to cover up
the resurrection,
they only helped
to strengthen
the legitimacy
of the empty tomb.
And what a great
cover up it is, right?
I mean,
it's a great cover up.
All this bribery
and corruption
worked pretty well
to get Judas
on their side.
Remember,
they lined Judas' pockets
with 30 silver coins.
Well,
here they try again.
Look at verse 15.
And so,
they took the money,
did as they were directed,
and the story
has been spread
amongst the Jews
to this day.
Now,
when Matthew says,
to this day,
he's obviously writing
about his day and age,
right?
He's not writing necessarily
for all time in history.
This was the primary story
in the first century,
that the tomb was empty
because Jesus' disciples
came in the middle
of the night
and stole his body away
and disposed of it.
And yet,
when Matthew says
that's the story
that is told
to this day,
it has an elasticity
to it,
doesn't it?
In the second
and third century,
this is the main story
that people told
why Jesus' tomb
was found empty.
We know in the second century
that many Christians
were still encountering
the story
and writing
to oppose it.
But even in our day and age,
this is one of the stories
we hear, right?
This is one of the reasons
given for the empty tomb,
that the disciples came
and stole it away.
And yet,
this story,
like so many others,
fails to answer
the key questions
of the narrative.
For example,
how could the gods
possibly know
who stole the body
if they were fast asleep?
I mean,
generally,
eyewitnesses
that are asleep
and don't see
the incident
aren't very good witnesses.
Furthermore,
don't you think
that at least
one of these
trained gods
who knew
that the penalty
for falling asleep
on duty
was death?
Don't you think
one of them
would have woken up
at the sound
of this massive stone
being rolled away
or the earthquake
shaking?
How is it that they
just had the best
night's sleep
of their entire life?
All ten of them,
right?
And furthermore,
if Jesus died
and was buried,
why hasn't anybody
in 2,000 years
produced any evidence
of where
their corpse lay,
bones lie,
his dead body?
The historian
Craig Blomberg
says,
no ancient writer,
Jew,
Greek,
or Roman
has ever identified
any tomb
in which Jesus'
body remains.
Douglas O'Donnell
asks a fascinating
question.
He says,
how realistic
is it to believe
that these
faithful Jews
Jewish men
and the women,
if they indeed
stole the body
and lay it
to rest somewhere,
would violate
half the Ten Commandments,
would violate
Jesus' own
ethical teachings,
and would violate
their own consciences
for a fraud,
for a lie,
if they knew
it was all false?
If the disciples
knew where
Jesus' body was
and simply dumped it,
what would be
the possible motive
for dedicating
their lives
to proclaim
this message?
of Jesus'
resurrection
from the dead.
The motivation
certainly wasn't
money.
Read the Acts
of the Apostle.
Money is not
something they
flourished in.
The motivation
certainly wasn't
honor and prestige
and reputation.
When you read
Paul's letters,
what you find
is that all he got
for proclaiming
this message
was shame,
ridicule,
persecution.
In fact,
the message
cost Jesus
and his disciples
everything they had
because they
believed in it.
Reputation,
friends,
community,
family,
indeed their own
lives.
N.T. Wright
says,
it was three
centuries before
anybody gained
anything except
insults,
danger,
torture,
and death
for believing
the resurrection.
Friends,
people might
sacrifice their
lives for
honor or
some great
reward.
Seldom
will people
sacrifice
their lives
if they
know that
it's a
fraud
if it's
all a
lie.
And that
begs the
question,
what turned
these fearful,
cowardly
disciples that
we read
about in
chapter 26
who run
away at
the prospect
of Jesus'
arrest,
what turned
them into
bold and
courageous
men almost
overnight?
A few
weeks later,
they stand
before the
very authorities
that crucified
Jesus and
these men
say,
you better
not proclaim
the resurrection
of Jesus
and they
say,
what are we
to do?
To listen
to God
or to
listen to
you?
And they
go and
they say,
put us in
jail if you
will,
we will not
proclaim,
stop proclaiming
the message.
What turned
these cowardly
men,
these fearful
women,
into bold,
courageous
witnesses
of Jesus?
Friends,
some people
say,
well,
that was back
then,
you know,
they were
ignorant,
they were
primitive
people,
they were
superstitious
people,
but these
days we are
enlightened,
we are
scientific,
people,
except no
Jew,
no Gentile
in the
ancient world
ever had
the idea
that someone
would rise
from the
dead.
It was not
part of any
worldview,
any culture,
any religion
of the time,
that anybody
would bodily
rise from the
dead in a
physical body.
N.T. Wright
says,
a great
historian,
everybody in
the ancient
world,
just like
everybody in
the modern
world,
knows perfectly
well that
dead people
don't get
resurrected.
Friends,
do you hear
what Matthew
is trying to
show us
here?
Matthew is
showing us
the extent
that the
people in
Jesus'
day went
to avert,
to stop,
to cover up,
to discredit,
everything they
could to make
sure that the
message of
Jesus'
resurrection
did not
get out.
Do you see
the security
measures,
the hush money
that's paid
out,
the stories,
the angst
as they take
counsel together?
Do you see
the passion
that they go
to,
to avert,
to discredit
the resurrection?
Do you
sense their
agony,
their desperation
using every
means possible
at their
disposal to
stop and
put a lid
on this
message that
Jesus died
and rose
again?
The religious
leaders,
Pilate,
the Pharisees,
the scribes,
everyone goes
to extreme
measures,
extensive
measures to
keep the
lid on,
to negate
and avert
Jesus'
resurrection.
But that's
of course not
all Matthew
wants us to
see.
He wants us
to see and
to know and
to believe that
despite all
these efforts,
the resurrection
of Jesus really
happened.
Matthew's point
is not just
that Jesus rose
from the dead,
but that it
happened despite
all the efforts
of those
involved,
who tried
everything they
could to
avoid it.
And Matthew's
point here is
that God is
Lord, not
Pilate, and
that not the
politicians, not
the religious
leaders, that
God is Lord
and God did
that which man
could not do.
And so look
at verse 1 to
10 of Matthew
28.
Here Matthew
wants us to
not only
understand it,
but to see it.
And I say
that because
four times
Matthew uses
the word
behold.
Look at
verse 2.
Behold, there
was an
earthquake.
Verse 7.
Behold, he
is going
before you.
Verse 7
again.
Behold, I
have told you
these things.
Verse 9.
Behold, Jesus
met them and
said, greetings.
The word
behold means
to see
something.
It's Matthew's
way of saying,
look here, look
at the evidence,
examine the
evidence.
He says in
verse 6, the
angels say,
come and see
the place
where Jesus
once lay.
What is it
that Matthew
wants us to
see?
Well, a couple
of things.
Firstly, he
wants us to
see what
the witnesses
saw.
He wants us
to see the
witnesses.
Who are the
first witnesses
to Jesus'
death and
resurrection?
It's the
woman, right?
It's Mary
Magdalene and
another lady
called Mary,
the two
Marys.
Many writers
have observed
that in
the first
century,
women had
low social
status.
They weren't
considered
credible witnesses
in a court
of law.
Women were
of low
social status,
which meant
that if you
want to make
up a story
and you need
some witnesses
to back up
your story,
the last
people in
the world
that you
choose to
back up
your made
up story
would be
women.
That's not
because women
are inferior,
but in
the first
century,
their witness
wasn't
considered
very credible.
And so
why does
Matthew,
of all
the people,
if he makes
up the
story,
why do
all the
gospel
writers
choose
Mary 1
and Mary
2 as
their first
witnesses?
The answer
is,
the only
explainable
answer is
because that
must be what
took place.
That must be
what happened.
Pinchas
Lapidde
wrote a book
called The
Resurrection
of Jesus
from a
Jewish
perspective.
Listen to
what he
says.
He says,
if the
narrative
were made
up,
one would
have avoided
making women
the crown
witnesses
in the
resurrection,
since they
were considered
in rabbinic
Judaism,
unable of
giving valid
testimony.
The fact
that the
same woman
wanted to
anoint the
dead Jesus
right after
his burial,
as Jewish
custom demanded,
proves that
basically none
of his
disciples,
nor the
woman
themselves,
expected the
resurrection.
You see
that?
Matthew wants
us to see
that the
resurrection of
Jesus is not
the fiction of
man,
it's not a
made up story,
it's the
work of
God.
It's the
work of
God.
Secondly,
he wants us
to see the
work of God
himself.
One of the
things I found
out this week
that I'd
never seen
before,
is that
the angels
don't open
the tomb
so that
Jesus can
get out.
I'd always
imagined Jesus
stuck behind
the tomb,
and the
angels come
and open
up the
seal,
and Jesus
then walks
out.
But actually,
look what
happens here.
Matthew
doesn't tell
us that the
angels open
the tomb
that Jesus
might get
out,
but that
the woman
might get
in,
and see
the tomb
is already
empty.
Right?
The angel
rolls back
the stone,
and the
tomb is
empty.
Stone or
no stone,
God or
no God,
seal or
no seal,
Jesus is
not in
there.
Jesus has
already
left.
And what's
the point?
The point
here is that
the angels
didn't set
Jesus free.
God raised
Jesus from
the dead.
The point
here is not
that the
earthquake set
Jesus free,
it's that
God raised
him from
the dead.
And what's
the point
of the
angel
and the
earthquake
anyway?
Well in
Matthew's
gospel,
angels and
earthquakes are
always a sign
that God
is at work,
a sign of
God's agency.
Remember how
in chapter
one,
an angel
appears to
Mary,
or actually
to Joseph,
and says,
Joseph,
your wife,
your engaged
wife,
your betrothed
wife,
Mary,
is with
child.
This is
something that
God has
done for
her.
And so
what's
Matthew's
point here?
That despite
the gods,
despite the
seal
tomb,
despite the
stone,
despite the
speculation and
the effort to
avert it,
the tomb was
made empty by
God himself,
by divine
agency,
not human
activity.
It wasn't the
work of the
disciples that
emptied the
tomb.
It wasn't the
work of the
angels that
emptied the
tomb.
It wasn't the
work of the
earthquake that
emptied the
tomb.
Friends,
this is the
work of God
himself.
The angels
played no
part in the
resurrection.
The earthquake
played no
part in the
resurrection.
The resurrection
was an
activity of
God himself.
Matthew wants
us to see the
witnesses,
to see the
work in the
hand of God.
And finally,
Matthew wants
us to see the
physical body
of Jesus.
There's two
things in this
passage that's
been bothering
me all week.
three times
or twice in
this chapter
and once in
a previous
chapter, it
says that
Jesus rises
from the
dead and
goes on to
Galilee where
he meets his
disciples.
And I thought
that's the
strangest thing.
Why does the
Bible make that
point?
It says it
here in verse
7.
The angels
say,
do not be
afraid.
Go quickly
tell his
disciples he's
risen and
behold he is
going before
you into
Galilee and
you will see
him there.
In verse
10, Jesus
meets the
women and
he says,
do not be
afraid.
Go and tell
my brothers to
go to
Galilee and
there they
will see
me.
And in
chapter 26,
just two
chapters before,
Jesus says,
after I'm
raised up,
I will go
before you
into Galilee.
And I just
thought that is
the strangest
like, I
mean that's
random.
Why do we
need to know
that?
Why does
Matthew want
to tell us
that three
times?
Well it
seems to me
that this is a
really important
incident.
When the
Bible mentions
something two
or three
times, it
wants us to
take note of
it.
What's the
significance of
this?
I think what
Matthew and
what God
wants to
tell us is
that Jesus'
resurrection
took place in
real time and
place with a
real physical
body that people
could touch and
see.
You see, these
days we often
hear people
saying, well it
doesn't matter
whether Jesus
rose or not.
What matters
is that he
rises in your
heart, right?
And Matthew
wants to say,
no, no, no.
It actually
matters that he
rose in flesh
and blood, that
the disciples saw
him and touched
him, that they
heard him with
their own ears.
Matthew's at
pains to show
us that that's
not what happened,
that Jesus
didn't meet his
disciples in some
kind of
parapsychological,
extra sensory
spiritual way.
He met them in
the flesh, in
time and space.
The angels don't
say, listen, the
stone may be
rolled away, but
it doesn't matter,
just take it on
faith.
One commentator
says, the
resurrection calls
for renewal of
our minds, not
the removing of
our brains, right?
The angels don't
say, well, just
look from inside
your heart or
look inside your
soul or just
see Jesus in the
face of your
sleeping baby.
Or, you know,
feel him in the
coolness of the
breeze on a
spring evening.
Or see Jesus, the
risen Jesus in the
rising sunset.
No, no, they want
us to feel, to sense
the reality of the
real Jesus.
Look at verse 9.
It says, behold,
Jesus met them and
said, Josan,
said, greetings,
right?
Hello, good
morning.
He came and
he, and it
says, they took
hold of his feet
and they worshipped
him.
One commentator
says, ghosts
don't normally have
feet.
They took hold of
his feet.
They felt his
hands.
They heard his
actual voice with
their actual ears.
The angel invites
them to use their
minds to make sense
of what they see.
And friends, this is
why Matthew writes
this.
This is why the
other gospel writers
write the biography
of Jesus.
They want us to see,
to know that Jesus
really died and he
really rose again.
Do you remember the
beginning of Luke's
gospel?
Luke writes this in
chapter one, the
beginning of his
gospel.
He says,
in as much as many
have undertaken to
write a narrative of
the things that were
accomplished about
Jesus, just as those
others who from the
beginning were
eyewitnesses and
ministers of the
word, spoke them to
us, it seemed good to
me also, having
followed these things
closely for some time,
to write an orderly
account for you, most
excellent Theophilus,
that you may have
certainty concerning
the things you have
been taught.
Friends, that's what
the gospel writers
want.
That's what Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, and
John want for us.
That's what they want
for Mary and for the
disciples and for
followers of Jesus.
Friends, that's what
Jesus wants for us
today.
Certainty, conviction,
assurance of faith,
that Jesus of Nazareth
really did die and he
really did rise again.
Jesus didn't just rise
in their hearts, he
didn't just rise in a
dream or rise in the
sunset, no, he
rise in physical bodily
form and he made
himself known.
Jesus died and rose
again.
And so what should we
do with this?
What does this mean for
us in our day and age?
Well, let me leave us
as we close with three
things, three thoughts.
Firstly, what should we
do with this?
Believe it.
I hope you see what
Matthew wants for us.
The death of
resurrection of Jesus
despite all the forces
of hell, all the schemes
of man historically took
place.
It happened in time and
place.
Believe it.
And so friends, when
Jesus comes to Thomas
later on and he says,
put your hands in my
nail scarred hands.
Feel my, the scar on my
side.
He wants Thomas to
believe it, to really
know that it happened.
James writes in his
epistle, James is the
brother of Jesus and he
says, you believe that
Jesus is God?
Well, that's good, but
that's not enough because
even the demons believe
that Jesus is God and
they are destined to
hell.
In other words,
believing in our mind
intellectually or just
academically is not
enough.
He wants us to know it
with conviction and
certainty, to bank our
lives in it, to believe
in the way that changes
our lives.
Let the truth of who I
am and what happened
on the cross and the
empty tomb shape your
life, says Jesus.
This is the heart of the
good news.
Without the empty tomb,
there are words of
simply empty words.
Friends, do you believe
it?
That Jesus died and rose
again?
That he's a seated in
heaven?
He's alive and he rules
and he reigns?
Believe it.
Secondly, live it.
Live in the light of
this resurrection.
What I mean by this is
this.
If you're a Christian, and
I know not all of us
would be Christians, but
if you are a Christian
today, live as exiles or
pilgrims in this world.
In other words, the
Bible says, and Jesus
says again and again, if
you're a Christian, this
world is not your home.
Your ultimate home is in
heaven and live as
pilgrims or exiles in
this world.
We looked at it earlier
in verse 10.
Jesus says, go and tell
my disciples that I am
going ahead of them into
Galilee.
There you will see me.
Go and meet me there.
Well, it reminds me of
John chapter 14 where
Jesus says, believe in
God, believe in me.
In my Father's house are
many rooms.
I am going ahead of you
to prepare a way for
you.
I will come again and
take you to myself that
you may be where I am
also.
Jesus again and again and
again says that the life
of a Christian is one who
lives away from our home.
That this world is not our
home.
We are exiles and pilgrims
here.
We live in this world
knowing that our
resurrection glory is
ultimate reality.
And so that means that
Christians are not those
who put all their stock
or their hope or their
confidence in this world
because our real world,
our real home is coming.
In our call to worship
this morning that Karen
read for us, one of the
greatest verses in the
Bible, 1 Peter chapter 1
says this, blessed be the
God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, according to his
great mercy, he has caused
us to be born again to a
living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus, to
a hope that can never
perish, spoil or fade, kept
in heaven for you.
Friends, I want to ask you
this morning, are you living
with living hope?
Is the living hope of the
resurrection of Jesus true
for your life and your
heart?
Are you living in light of
that?
Friends, do you live with a
hope, a concrete hope
through COVID, through
economic uncertainty?
When your stock portfolio
loses 30% in one year
because of everything that's
going on, do you live with
hope?
A hope that is
circumstance defying.
A hope that is, that that
goes through the ups and
downs of life.
A hope that nothing in this
world can touch or dilute or
take away from you.
Jesus says because he died and
rose again, we get to live
with living hope.
In the New Testament, the
Apostle Paul says that because
of Christ's death and
resurrection, he gets to
embrace suffering and
hardship.
He says, just as Christ died
and rose again, I will embrace
his sufferings knowing that I
will die and rise again.
Friends, are you able to
embrace hardship, suffering,
knowing that the resurrection of
Jesus means you will rise with
him again?
Moreover, friends, are we
worshippers?
In verse 9, when Mary and the
other Mary see Jesus, it says
they fell down and they
worshipped him.
In verse 17, when the disciples
see Jesus, they fall down and
they worship him.
Friends, I want to ask you, is
the quality of our worship based
on how well the musicians play on
a Sunday?
Is it based on whether we like
the songs or not?
Sometimes I don't like the
songs.
I don't know if I'm allowed to
admit that.
But friends, even if the songs
aren't great songs, even if the
musicians are having a bad day,
can we worship?
Can we worship?
Because Jesus has died and
risen again.
Because he's alive and he reigns
in heaven.
And before Jesus, at the right
hand of God the Father, all
creation will bow down and say,
worthy are you, the lamb that
was slain, to receive honor and
glory and power and authority.
Worthy are you to receive our
worship because you died for our
sins and you were raised for our
justification.
Friends, live in light of the
resurrection.
Live with living hope.
Live with certainty and
conviction.
Live with embracing suffering and
hardship and persecution and even
laying down your life.
live as a worshiper of Jesus.
Live in light of the resurrection.
And then finally, proclaim it.
Proclaim the hope of the
resurrection.
We're going to look at it next
week in our final sermon, sermon
number 58 in the book of Matthew.
Over five years, we're going to
look at it.
But look at briefly verse 6 of our
passage here.
The angels say to Mary and Mary 1 and
Mary 2, come and see the place where
Jesus lay.
Then go and tell his disciples that he
has risen from the dead.
Jesus sees them a few verses later and
he says, do not be afraid.
Go and tell my disciples to go to
Galilee and there they will see me.
Friends, this city of Hong Kong is the
greatest city in the world.
It really is.
If you're from outside of town, I know
your city is the second best city.
This is the greatest city in the
world.
But one of the things about our city, it
is starved for hope.
It is desperate for hope.
And our city of seven and a half
million people longing for hope.
Friends, can we be agents of hope for
our city?
Our city is longing for circumstance
defying hope.
A hope that will carry us through the
next storm.
The next pandemic.
The next economic downturn.
The next tragedy.
And those of us that are Christians
live with living hope.
Resurrection hope.
That come what may, we will die and we
will rise again.
And we will live in our home where
there will be no more tears.
No more suffering.
No more agony.
The world will pass away and all things
will be made new.
And friends, our city is desperate for
this hope.
Can we proclaim it?
Can we go into our universities and our
schools and our city and our apartment
blocks and tell of the hope and the
wonder of Jesus?
Friends, if you're a Christian this morning,
don't keep this message to yourself.
Don't keep this to yourself.
Do what Jesus tells you to do.
Come and see where he died and he rose
again.
But then go and tell our city the message
of hope.
Friends, in the latter part of his life,
Cyril Edwin Joad came back to the faith
that he once abandoned as an Oxford student.
He came to see, as Matthew wants him to see,
not the physical body of Jesus,
but he came to see the testimony of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, and John.
That they record the historical facts
that Jesus died and rose again.
He came to have certainty and conviction
and confidence in the resurrection of Jesus.
That Jesus, the Son of God,
died on Calvary for our sins
and was raised for our justification.
That we might live with him forevermore.
Friends, do you believe it?
Do you live it?
Are you able to proclaim it?
Let's pray together.
Jesus, this morning we hear the words of Matthew.
We don't just want to hear it,
we want to see it.
That Jesus, you really did die
and you really did rise again.
That God is the Apostle Paul says
that if this is not true,
our faith is a farce,
our beliefs are delusional,
our hope is baseless.
But God, this morning we have confidence,
we have conviction,
we have certainty
that this is not just a message
to make us feel good,
it's not just something
to help us get through our lives,
it is true,
it is historical,
it's accurate,
it is real.
Jesus, I pray,
won't you send us out this morning
into the great city of Hong Kong
and cause us, God,
to live with hope
and certainty and conviction.
God, help us to see it,
to know it,
to believe it,
and to live in light of it.
We pray this in your good
and your gracious name.
Amen.