Alive

I have your Bibles with you today. Please turn with me, if you would, to Mark 16, and we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 8. And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back.

It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. He said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they've laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and they fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them.

And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Bow with me as we go to our Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, I pray for our sick this morning. I pray for Martha's daughter, Melissa, that you would help her as she's struggling with a shoulder injury.

I pray, Heavenly Father, for Gerard Michaud, that he will heal quickly. I pray for John Key for the procedure to remove his pacemaker, that it would go well. I pray for Jeremy Carriker and Jim Belk and Nicole Lowes, Judy Swigard, help them all to complete recovery. Lord, I do pray for the PCA's General Assembly this week. I pray, Father, that you would help men to make the right decisions, decisions that would honor and glorify you. I pray, Lord, that you would protect our men as they travel all the way to Memphis this week and be with them in power and protect them and keep them safe in their travels.

Lord, protect their families as they are away. Heavenly Father, over the last couple of decades, I have been shocked, angered, and amazed at how our nation has turned its back on Jesus and has embraced wokeness and perversion and corruption. We've called good evil and evil good. We've called light darkness and darkness light.

We've called sweet bitter and bitter sweet. You said woe to those people who do that. Father, help your people not to get caught up in that cultural lie and the societal delusion. I pray for an awakening in America that would turn this nation to Jesus. The sad thing is the church in many areas has gotten caught up in that same lie. Lord, bring your church to repentance. Today we're studying your resurrection. This truth turned the disciples upside down. May the truth of the resurrection turn us upside down as well. For it's in Jesus' precious and holy name that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. How important is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? Adrian Rogers used to say that the death of Jesus Christ paid completely for our sin debt and washed away our sins forever. But the crucifixion of Jesus Christ without the resurrection of Jesus Christ would not be worth half a hallelujah. Folks, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a glorious centerpiece of divine redemption. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of gospel promise.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the guarantee of eternal life for all those who will believe. What's the difference between Christianity and every other religion on the face of the earth? Folks, every other religion is dependent upon what that person is doing in order to try to merit favor with their false god. Christianity is the exact opposite.

We are not going to merit our favor with Christ by what we do. But Christ honors himself by going to the cross dying for us that our sins might be forgiven. And what is the proof of that? The proof is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Folks, Buddha is dead, Muhammad is dead, Confucius is dead, Shinto is dead, but Jesus Christ is alive.

Now, Paul said if Christ had not risen, then our preaching is vain and our faith is vain. When God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, he was putting his stamp of approval on everything that Jesus ever said or did. Folks, Jesus said that he was God. The resurrection says it is so. Jesus said that he is the only way of salvation. The resurrection says it is so. Folks, Jesus said that he is the priest, the prophet, and the king.

The resurrection says it is so. What day do we worship the Lord corporately? We worship on Sunday, don't we?

Why do we do that? Because we call it the Lord's day. Why do we call it the Lord's day? Because it was the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.

Sunday is the Lord's day. And when we come together to worship, we don't come together to worship a dead savior on the cross. We come to worship the living Lord on his throne. We don't come together together to study the teachings of a holy man who came and died. We come to worship the living God on his throne.

We come to worship Jesus, the one who died for us and rose from the dead. Folks, Harry Reader was killed in a car crash just three weeks ago. I went back and I listened to a sermon that Harry preached on the Sunday before he died. And I listened to that sermon and it was a sermon that came from Romans chapter 8, my favorite chapter in the Bible. It's a chapter where the apostle Paul said this, what shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Shall distress or tribulation or persecution or nakedness or peril or sword?

No, for in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor powers nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Folks, four days later, after Harry preached on Romans chapter 8, four days later, he was with the Lord. He was with the Lord. He breathed his last breath here on this earth and a split second later, he entered the presence of Christ.

For the last three weeks, there had been tears for Harry all over this nation in different churches because he touched a whole lot of lies. But I want you to know there were no tears in the eyes of Harry Reader for he is with Jesus. And in my mind, I can just imagine him as he bows down at the throne of Christ worshiping him and Jesus reaches down. He takes his hand and he lifts him up on his feet and he hugs his neck and says, Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter now into the joy of the Lord.

Folks, let me tell you something. If there is no resurrection, then that never happened. And Harry Reader's whole life was nothing but a big waste. I want you to know it did happen because Jesus is raised from the dead and Harry's salvation is absolutely certain. His salvation is not only certain, but it's not just here and gone.

It is forever and ever and ever. I want to give you something to think about this morning. Did you realize that not one of the four gospels tells us how the resurrection happened? How did it take place? Did God the Father reach into that body of Jesus in that in that tomb and reach down and just touch his head? And boom, just like that, Jesus was raised from the dead.

Did the Holy Spirit send some kind of transform in electrical shock? They just hit his body and instantaneously there was a resurrection. Well, we don't know that, do we?

Because the scripture doesn't tell us that. Now, we know about some of the limb, some of the things about the the glorified body of Jesus. We know that it was a body that had no limitations. We know that it was a body that when Jesus was resurrected, he came right up through the grave clothes and left them there like a deflated balloon. And then he walked through the solid wall. We know that later that day, Jesus met with the two disciples on the Emmaus road and they talked together. And then they went he went home with them and they ate together. Jesus took the scripture from Genesis to Malachi and showed them how all the scripture was pointing them to Christ. Then they broke bread together and the breaking of the bread, their eyes were open. The scripture says they saw that it was Jesus and Jesus disappeared just like that. It was a week later from then that Jesus appeared to the disciples, 11 of them. He appeared to those disciples. They were up in the upper room hiding.

They were behind a locked door. How did Jesus get in? Did he knock on the door and ask them to unlock it?

No, he just walked right through the solid wall. So we know a little bit about how his glorified body functions, but we still don't know how God the Father resurrected Jesus. Did the dark tomb just light up with the Shekinah glory of God?

Did Jesus's body shake with glory and tremble as he was resurrected? We don't know, but the Bible doesn't teach us. That's one of those Deuteronomy 29, 29 things. The secret things belong to the Lord. So folks, we don't have to know how God did it. We just have to believe that God did it.

Now I got three testimonies I want to share with you today. Number one, the testimony of the empty tomb. Mark 16 verses 1 through 5a. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Solomon brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back, was very large, and entering the tomb. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Solomon, arrived at the tomb very early on that Sunday morning.

It was the first day of the week. They came with deep consternation in their heart because they knew that the stone had been rolled into the entrance of that cave. That was a problem because this was a stone that weighed somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds depending on what kind of stone it was. And you remember Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had taken the body of Jesus down from the cross on Good Friday. They brought it to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

They laid his body out on a flat stone. Then they took a shroud. They wrapped him in that shroud. And then they took linen cloths and wrapped him around and around and around like a mummy. Nicodemus brought in 75 pounds of perfumes and spices and the women came in, helped anoint the body of Jesus.

When all that was done, they all stepped out. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea found the perfectly sized stone. They rolled it and pushed it down the hill and it went in to the entrance of the tomb and lodged there. Now folks, removing the stone would be much tougher than this. For it was stuck in the entrance of that tomb and it was huge. They had rolled it down the hill.

To get it out, it's going to have to be rolled up the hill. Now in some of the other gospel accounts, we are told that Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joanna and some other women were there. At least two of these women helped with anointing the body, dead body of Jesus with perfumes and spices. And so all of these women knew that Jesus had already gotten a very glorious burial. It had been done.

The spices had been applied. The body had been anointed just as it was supposed to have been done. So why did they want to do it again? It was one last chance to show their love for Jesus. It was one last chance that they had that they could go and worship him from the depths of their heart. As they walked together towards the tomb, they said, what are we going to do? Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had rolled that stone down into the hill. It's stuck right in the entrance of that tomb.

It's big. How are we going to deal with it? They pushed it down the hill. We've got to push it back up the hill.

How in the world are we going to do it? Look at verse two and three again, very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? When they got there, the stone was already moved. It was up the hill. It's very interesting to go over in the Gospel of John and look at the Greek words there. The verbiage there is very interesting for the word for roll in the Gospel of John literally means to throw. And so how in the world did that happen? A huge mighty angel came and took that huge stone, dislodged it from the entrance of the tomb, and picked it up and threw it up the hill.

Folks, let me tell you something. The angel did that not to let Jesus out, but to show everybody else that Jesus wasn't in there. Mary Magdalene was overcome with grief. Overcome with grief. She thought that someone had stolen the body. So she ran to get John and Peter, and John and Peter came back with her. They went in the tomb.

They saw the grave clothes there, lying there like a deflated balloon. And then they turned around and left. And so Mary Magdalene stayed there. And she put her hands in her head and she was just weeping. Then she looked in the tomb, and there were two men, really angels, that were in the tomb. And one of them said to her, why are you weeping? And she said, they've taken away the body of my Lord, and I don't know where they have taken him.

And that's when Jesus appeared. She thought Jesus was the gardener. And so she turned around and she said, if you took the body of Jesus out of here, can you please tell me where you have taken him? And Jesus spoke and said one word, Mary?

Mary? That was all he needed to say, for she knew the voice. And she turned around so excited she could hardly stand it. And she said one word back to him, Rabboni, which means master or teacher.

And I can just see her running over there to hug his neck. John chapter 20 verse 17 through 18 says this. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I'm ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. Before Jesus met with Mary Magdalene, when this whole group of women were walking toward the tomb, the women were fretting, saying, who will roll the stone away? They knew the stone was enormous. They knew they probably were not going to be able in their own strength to get that stone out of the way.

And so they're just thinking to ourself, I hope this was not a waste of time. Now, the women did not know that Pilate had set a guard there at the tomb. When it says a guard, it doesn't mean one soldier. This is a squadron of soldiers, 16 top notch Roman warriors who were trained much like our Green Berets.

Would you listen to what John MacArthur said about this? He said they were unaware that the religious leaders had sealed it on Saturday and set a detachment of Roman soldiers to guard it. They were also unaware of the localized earthquake that occurred early that morning and the arrival of the angels who had rolled the stone away and incapacitated the soldiers, ultimately causing them to flee. By the time the women arrived at the tomb, the soldiers had disappeared and the tomb's entrance was wide open. Well, to these women's surprise, when they got to the tomb, the soldiers were gone. The tomb was empty and the stone had been thrown up the hill.

They had not considered a resurrection. That's why they were bringing the spices and the perfumes. They were bringing that to the tomb, hoping that they were going to get to anoint the body of Jesus again. And all the time, what they're thinking is the same, somebody has stolen the body.

Well, folks, it won't be long before they find out that, no, the body had not been stolen. Now, the soldiers already knew that. The soldiers were there when the angels showed up. You talk about scared. These were 16 top notch Roman soldiers and they watched as that big angel came, took that stone, picked it up and threw it up the hill. And I'm going to tell you, they're scared. They look into the tomb. Where is Jesus?

He's not in there. And they're absolutely scared to death and they run all the way back to the Jewish religious leaders and they tell them what happened. The Jewish religious leaders get scared and they pay the soldiers to tell a lie and say that the disciples had stolen the body. Let me tell you, folks, it didn't have anything to do with the disciples. The disciples are in hiding. They are scared to death.

They're shaken and trembling. So what is the testimony of the tomb? The testimony of the tomb is this. Jesus is alive. Jesus has risen from the dead. Point two, the testimony of the angel. Look in chapter 16, verse 5b through 6. They saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed. And he said to them, do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth who is crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

The women peered into the tomb. Mark tells us that they saw young man's wearing a white robe, probably shining like a noonday sun. If you read this in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John, the scripture says that there were two men, two angels that were there. Mark says that there's one, he just tells us about the one that is doing the talking. It's very interesting. Mark's gospel is way shorter than all the other gospels.

And they're way shorter because he leaves out so much detail. Here we just hear about one. But there were two men, two angels that were there. But the ladies see these angels and they are terrified. The scripture says here that they were amazed. In the Greek, that word means that they were bewildered and terrified. So the angel calms them down. The angel essentially says, do not be terrified. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who is crucified. In other words, you're at the right tomb, ladies. You're not mistaken.

You're exactly at the right place. And then he says to them, he's not here. He has risen from the dead. The Greek actually says he has been raised from the dead.

Let me share with you again something John MacArthur said. I think it really clears it up. He said, though Jesus himself possessed the authority to lay down his life and to take it up again, the New Testament also teaches that he was raised by the power of both the Father and the Holy Spirit. That reality is not contradictory but rather affirms the unity of God within the Trinity since each member of the Godhead participated in the resurrection as they did in creation. Luke chapter 24 verse 5, the angel asked the women, why do you seek the living among the dead?

That was a mild rebuke in the form of a question. They were saying, ladies, you've been involved in the ministry of Jesus. You've heard him say on countless occasions that he was going to be crucified.

Three days later he was going to be raised from the dead. But it was not until the angel told them that that they remembered back to what Jesus had said. People, listen. We need to believe God's word. We need to study God's word. We need to memorize God's word. We need to meditate on God's word, and we need to obey God's word. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints of the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 12 says, all scriptures given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness. Psalm 119 verse 105 says, thy word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path. Psalm 119 verse 89 says, forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in heaven. Psalm 19 verse 7 through 10 says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgment of the Lord is true and altogether righteous.

More are they to be desired than gold, even fine gold. Brothers and sisters, when I mess up, when I give in to a temptation, when I do something that I'm not supposed to do, when I make a wrong decision, I can always take it right back to the fact that I am not meditating on the word of God and obeying the word of God like I need to. This is an admonition to us, brothers and sisters, that we are to take God's word seriously. Then the angels pointed them to the large flat stone in which the body of Jesus had laid for three days. And they looked there, and there was the empty grave clothes like a deflated mummy that were there. Jesus did not have to unravel those grave clothes.

He just came right up through them and then walked right through the wall. This angel was God's emissary, and this was the angel's testimony. Jesus Christ is alive, and Jesus Christ's resurrection was the stamp of approval on everything that Jesus did or everything that he ever said. Folks, that's a testimony.

Testimony number three is the testimony of the eyewitnesses. Look at Mark 16, 7 through 8. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he's going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and they fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.

The women were given a task. They were to go tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus was alive and that he would meet them in Galilee. He said, there you will see him as he told you. Once again, the angel of the Lord is rebuking the women here. The angel said to the women, this should not have caught you by surprise.

You should have known this. You should have remembered this because this is what Jesus told you beforehand. Once again, folks, here is that admonition that we are to take the word of God seriously. He's not just talking to the women. He's talking to me and to you just as well. Also notice that he tells the women to go tell the disciples and Peter.

That's interesting, isn't it? Why did he say and Peter? Because Peter at this point in time knows that he has denied Jesus three times.

His heart is broken over that. He thinks Jesus has just rejected him totally. And he could never be the disciple of Jesus. He could never have a relationship and fellowship with Jesus because it was over.

He had messed up. So Jesus says, no, don't just tell the disciples. Be sure and tell Peter. When they did meet, Jesus took Peter. He walked him down the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And three times Jesus led Peter to confess his love for Jesus.

And what happened? Peter knew that he had not been rejected, that he had not been forsaken, that Jesus still loved him and he was still his disciple. And he rejoiced. Folks, all the disciples saw the resurrected Christ. Mary Magdalene saw the resurrected Christ. James, the half brother of Jesus, saw the resurrected Christ. Five hundred people at one time saw the resurrected Christ.

Paul saw the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus. Folks, eyewitnesses suffered for what they saw. Because the people that hated Jesus and wanted to do away with this religion, with this Christianity stuff, they wanted to do damage to them. And so what did they do?

They said, that's okay. They said, we're willing to suffer because we know that Jesus Christ is alive. They said, we are willing to die for Jesus if necessary. Most of these eyewitnesses were martyred for their faith. Now, if it was a lie, do you think they would have been willing to be martyred for their faith?

I don't think so. I've known a lot of people who are willing to live for a lie, but I don't know anybody who purposely would be willing to die for a lie. So what did they do? They went out and they preached the gospel. They knew that Jesus was alive. If he was alive, that meant that everything that he had said and everything that he had done was true. What had he told them? He had said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father but by me. He said, if you will believe in me, if you will trust in me, if you will submit your life to me as your Lord and as your Savior, you will be saved for all eternity. The disciples had fled from the soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane and they had left Jesus to face the cross alone. But once they saw Jesus alive, things were never the same again. What about the women? Did they get more proof of the resurrection than just the empty grave clothes, the empty tomb, and the words from the angel? Yeah, they did. Listen to Matthew 28, 8 through 10.

It gives us a fuller account. So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and they ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings. And they came up to him 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 Galilee and there they will see me. Let me quickly read you all of the resurrection appearances that we know about. In Judea, he appeared to Mary Magdalene. Other women, Peter, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Ten of the apostles in the upper room and all 11 included Thomas eight days later. When the apostles arrived in Galilee, Jesus appeared to seven of them on the shore of the lake. He later appeared to more than 500 disciples on a mountain where he commissioned the apostles to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. At some point, Jesus also appeared to his half-brother, James. And then a final time to the 11 apostles on the Mount of Olives. Just before his ascension to heaven, additional appearances seem indicated and where Luke says of the apostles, to these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs.

Appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking to the things concerning the kingdom of God. The Old Testament required the testimony of two or three witnesses to substantiate an event that God ensured that the resurrection would be verified by hundreds of eyewitnesses on many occasions who had personally seen the risen Christ. The reality of the resurrection affirmed by collective testimony of the empty tomb. The angels and eyewitnesses proves that Jesus is who he claimed to be. What does this matter, folks?

What does it matter? It proves that Jesus is who he said he was. Who did Jesus say he was? He said he was the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but by him. He said he was the Messiah. He said that he was the Son of God.

And how do we know it? We know it because of this testimony. He is risen. Amen?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we look today at the reality and the proof of the resurrection of Christ. It totally changed everything. The disciples were empowered by it.

The women were amazed over it. And today we still stand in awe of the resurrection of Jesus. May we live in a way that tells the world that Jesus Christ is alive. For it's in Jesus' precious and holy name that we pray. Amen.