SERMONS FOR YOU

EASTER SERMON

          It was dark as they arose that Sunday morning... The two got up and put on their garments grabbed their spices and headed out on the dirt road that lead out of the city.
          As they headed out on the road and as the sun began to rise the path was lined with many dark shadows... but no shadow or darkness could compare with the darkness that hovered over their soul.
          As they walked up the path towards the tomb... thoughts and sights of the last week -- ripped through their minds like violent tornados..
          They had been there when Jesus rode in on the colt before thousands shouting his praises, what an incredible moment that was. But unfortunately their minds and the events of last week didn’t stop their.
          Try as they might they couldn’t stopped those other thoughts, those terrible scenes from playing out again and again in their minds.
          They saw Jesus tied to a post, a Roman scourge filled with broken pieces of pottery, glass and bones ripping across His back. As they recalled the purple robe -- the beatings, the cruel mocking and the crown of thorns, the tears began to flow again.
          They had seen it all -- they had seen Jesus, their teacher, their friend, their Lord they had witnessed everything that Jesus went through...

And these 2 women, these two Mary’s (Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James) were there at the cross...
          They saw Jesus hanging there on that rough cross of wood... they saw His body struggle and wince with pain with every breathe that he took...
          They where there when Jesus died, and when he died they died to.. O’ they were still alive physically but their hopes and joy died on that cross with Jesus, on that dark friday nearly 2,000 years ago.. Their Lord was dead... And their hope was gone.
          So what are they doing up so early on this Sunday morning? Why aren’t they lying in bed wallowing in their misery... What was it that drove them from their beds before dawn, and put them on this dark up hill climb.

I suggest to you it was faith. I suggest to you this Easter morning that that is the way faith works. Faith is not some easy, straight line thing that we pull out each morning and put back to bed at night. No, faith is much more of a roller-coaster.

          Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.
     It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.
                                                                   - Joni Erickson Tada

Charles Spurgeon tells us to Wash our faces every morning in a bath of praise.
Four women went out to a tomb with nothing but a fingernail of faith.

So this morning and in the four weeks to come, we're going to explore what it means to have faith in a world today that wants to squish your faith in a bath of science instead of a bath of praise.

Today we ask was faith at the empty tomb looks like?

but what does faith in the empty tomb really mean to us today.

1. FAITH IN THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS THERE IS FORGIVENESS

Have you ever done something that haunts you? Something you so regret the second you do it or say it or even think it that you want so much to have forgiveness you would do just about anything?

Imagine then if the element of that forgiveness has gone away in your eyes.

If anyone ever needed a dose of hope, if anyone ever needed to know that what Jesus said was true, it was a distraught, guilt ridden, sun weary fishermen named Peter....
Peter was standing with John when the Marys came running into town... And when they came in screaming, crying and laughing, when Peter and John saw them in this frenzied state they ran to them

And they said, "slow down, slow down -- we can’t understand you... the tomb is empty! Jesus isn’t in the tomb!
And at that moment Peter and John headed to the tomb at warp speed. Peter was running as fast as he could, his heart pounding and his powerful legs were pumping his feet up and down the winding paths of the dusty roads leading to the tomb..

          His friend John was running beside him. Peter was in the lead, but then he begin to think to himself I am absolutely sure --
          "WHY AM I SO HAPPY, I DENIED HIM, I TALKED SO BIG AND TOUGH, BUT WHEN IT CAME TIME TO TAKE A STAND, I FELL... MAYBE JESUS DOESN’T WANT TO SEE ME, I HAVE NO RIGHT TO TAKE PART IN THIS CELEBRATION... PETER THE ROCK, YEAH FAT CHANCE.."
          His thoughts had slowed him down and John was the first to make it to the tomb, but John didn’t go in, he just stood at the entrance -- (perhaps afraid that when he went in Jesus would still be there).
          Peter though, once he made it to the tomb, without hesitation went in, he had to go in, he had to see for himself. And when Peter walked inside, he saw the strips of linen and the burial clothes, that had been around Jesus’ head folded laying on the stone slab.
          Peter’s heart was racing and tears of joy were flowing, "HE’S ALIVE! JESUS IS ALIVE!!!"

I picture Peter alone, sitting with his head down... Peter like many of us, had set such high standards for himself, "EVEN THOUGH EVERYONE ELSE MAY LEAVE YOU JESUS, NOT ME -- I’LL NEVER DO THAT, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME..."

          Peter had set high standards for himself, standards that he could never have lived up to -- he was just a man.... And because he couldn’t forgive himself, he couldn’t believe that Jesus could forgive him either... "Not after what I have done... I went too far... I don’t deserve your forgiveness Jesus. While you were being beaten, crucified I denied I ever knew you. I was only thinking of myself and not you..."
          And then Peter felt a hand on his shoulder-- and he looked at the hand and he saw that it had been pierced. His heart stopped beating and as he turned to fall to his feet, He heard the voice of the one he loved more than life itself say , "PETER" If you have ever been so overcome with emotion that you can’t talk... the tears just won’t stop, and the sobbing chokes off all words, that’s how I picture this meeting of Jesus with Peter" The big strong fishermen -- kneeling before Jesus his large hands holding on to Jesus AS HE weeps intensely.. And I picture Jesus his hand on Peter’s shoulder saying "IT’S ALL RIGHT PETER, IT’S ALRIGHT, I KNOW, I KNOW, IT’S ALRIGHT NOW, I FORGIVE YOU PETER, PETER I FORGIVE YOU.."
          The empty tomb means there is forgiveness.... The empty tomb means whatever you done can be laid at the tomb this morning.

Are there any here who have no need of forgiveness this morning?

          Who needs this forgiveness? That can only come about through the blood of Christ -- We all do! "FOR EACH OF US HAS SINNED AND FALLEN ... SHORT OF WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF US..."
          How do we get this forgiveness?
          If we want (and we certainly need it), if we want the forgiveness that Christ won and that the empty tomb is a monument of, we need to humble ourselves before Him and in belief and repentance and be immersed into His name.
          Have you done this?
          Have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
II. FAITH IN THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS THERE IS TRUTH

          THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS JESUS IS ALIVE! WHAT JESUS SAID IS TRUE!!
          IT MEANS GOD’S GRACE IS GREATER THEN OUR SIN, IT MEANS 3 STRIKES AND WE ARE NOT OUT -- THAT IS IF WE REALLY WANT TO STILL BE IN!
          It means that what he said would happen did. It means we can trust him to do what he said he would do. And if what he said about this is true, then everything else is true. It means it all is true. Isn't that wonderful?

And since the resurrection is so essential it has been attacked from the very beginning by Christ’s enemies, we read in Matthew [28:11-15].

¹¹While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' ¹⁴If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." ¹⁵So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
          The attacks still continue to this day, but the burden of proof rests not on the believer but on the unbeliever to explain the empty tomb.
          Many theories have been proposed over the years as to why the tomb is empty, all of which are weak and far fetched. And each one requires that the disciples be part of a cover up as they promoted and preached a lie.
          Charles Colson, the former counsel of President Nixon, convicted conspirator in the Watergate scandal, writes that the Watergate cover up convinced him that Jesus was raised from the dead. He said,
          "THERE WERE ONLY 8 OR 10 OF US IN THE INNER CIRCLE AROUND THE PRESIDENT WHO REALLY KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON." HE SAID, "ALL WE HAD TO DO WAS STONEWALL FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS AND THE WATERGATE SCANDAL WOULD BE OVER. WE HAD ALL THE POWER AND PRESTIGE OF THE PRESIDENCY AT OUR FINGERTIPS. AND IF THE TRUTH BROKE THERE WOULD BE EMBARRASSMENT AND PERHAPS A PRISON SENTENCE. THERE WAS NO GRAVE DANGER. OUR LIVES WERE NOT THREATENED, BUT WE COULD NOT HOLD THE CONSPIRACY TOGETHER FOR MORE THAN 2 WEEKS. WE COULD NOT CONTAIN THE LIE. ONCE PROSECUTION WAS POSSIBLE THE NATURAL INSTINCTS OF SELF PRESERVATION WAS SO OVERWHELMING THAT THE CONSPIRATORS ONE BY ONE DESERTED THEIR LEADERS.
          THEY CAVED IN AND THEY STOOD IN LINE AT THE PROSECUTORS OFFICE TO ESCAPE JAIL."      COLSON CONCLUDES, " I KNOW THAT THE DISCIPLES COULD NOT PERPETUATE A LIE LIKE THE RESURRECTION, BECAUSE IT WAS NOT JUST THEIR REPUTATIONS THAT WERE AT STAKE, THEIR LIVES WERE IN DANGER. THEY HAD NO CLOUT, THEY HAD NOTHING TO GAIN BY THE LIE AND YET EVERYONE OF THEM STOOD FAST IN THE CONVICTION THAT JESUS IS ALIVE. TAKE IT FROM ONE WHO SAW FIRST HAND HOW VULNERABLE A COVER UP IS: NOTHING LESS THAN A WITNESS AS AWESOME AS THE RESURRECTED CHRIST COULD HAVE CAUSED THOSE MEN TO MAINTAIN TO THEIR DYING WHISPERS ... JESUS IS ALIVE AND HE IS LORD!" (AS EACH APOSTLE EXCEPT JOHN DIED A MARTYRS DEATH).

When people today consider the evidence:
The Christian Church that alive and well today despite every obstacle the world could throw against it.
Worship changed from sat to sunday
The very calendar changed by the birth of Christs
The eye witness testimonies of the resurrection (more than 500+)
The inability of anyone in the first century to produce the body of Jesus, which would have quenched the fire of this movement...
The testimony of non christian writers in the first century....
          When we consider the fact that the tomb is empty -- there is no other conclusion that an individual in the pursuit of truth can make, other than that Jesus Christ is Alive!
          Faith in the empty tomb means that truth is alive as well.

III. FAITH IN THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS THERE IS HOPE FOR EVEN THE MARGINALIZED

          The thing that drove the women that morning was their faith, their love for and devotion to Jesus -- someone had to prepare the body for burial and no one else had volunteered; Peter didn’t, James didn’t, neither did John -- So it was up to these 4 faithful followers, 4 women who had never left the side of Jesus, who were with Him until the end -- it was up to them to do it, and they did..
          The task they were going to perform was a somber task, a difficult task... They would be the ones, who would wipe the blood from the brow, from the legs, from the sides, They would be the ones, to clean the blood from the body of Jesus... they would be the ones, to remove the blood that had matted in his beard, They would be the last ones, to touch his face and close His eyes, which was necessary in their religion.
          And as they were nearing the tomb -- suddenly a problem -- something they hadn’t thought of until now, entered their minds and they said to each other,
          "MARY WHO IS GOING TO REMOVE THE STONE -- HOW CAN WE GET INSIDE TO JESUS IF THE STONE IS IN THE WAY?"
          When you talk about faith and you say that these women believed Jesus to be dead and there being no hope remaining, remember this: It took faith to even believe they could get in to see the body. And what does faith produce?

"AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS A VIOLENT EARTHQUAKE, FOR AN ANGEL OF THE LORD CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND, GOING TO THE TOMB, ROLLED BACK THE STONE AND SAT ON IT. HIS APPEARANCE ... WAS LIKE LIGHTENING, AND HIS CLOTHES WERE WHITE AS SNOW. THE GUARDS WERE SO AFRAID OF HIM THAT THEY SHOOK LIKE DEAD MEN. THE ANGEL SAID TO THE WOMEN, "DO NOT BE AFRAID, FOR I KNOW THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR JESUS, WHO IS CRUCIFIED. HE IS NOT HERE; HE HAS RISEN, JUST AS HE SAID. COME AND SEE THE PLACE WHERE HE LAY. THEN GO QUICKLY AND TELL HIS DISCIPLES AND PETER : `HE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND IS GOING AHEAD OF YOU INTO GALILEE. THERE YOU WILL SEE HIM’ NOW I HAVE TOLD YOU."
The empty tomb means that no matter who you are, or how much you have, or what you've done, you can be with God in heaven today. You don't have to have money, or prestige, or a good resume. You just have to have a drop, just a drop of faith that this story I'm telling you is true.

And Mary and Mary bent down and walked into the tomb, and they saw that it was empty (Jesus was not there)

          Wwhat do you think they were thinking at that moment? How do you think they felt? Did they just look in, or do you think they stayed awhile? Did they touch the linen that had been around Jesus? Did they shed tears of joy? How do you feel when you know that what you want most in life has suddenly, inexplicably come true?
          Matthew goes on to say, "SO THE WOMEN HURRIED AWAY FROM THE TOMB AFRAID, YET FILLED WITH JOY AND RAN TO TELL THE DISCIPLES.."
          Once they found that the tomb was empty -- once they believed that Jesus had risen from the dead, these women were on a direct path that would ultimately led them to meet the risen Lord...
          And as they were running down the road back to Jerusalem -- suddenly Jesus appeared to them -- and they fell down and clasped His feet (perhaps wanting to make sure he was real), and they worshiped Him....
          The love and devotion that these women showed to Jesus while he hung on the cross and as they arose early to tend to His body was greatly rewarded.

Even when Jesus didn’t seem to be acting according to their plans or wasn’t giving them what they wanted, these women never wavered or faltered in their devotion to him... And that kind of love and devotion will always be rewarded by Jesus....

And their reward by men?

Paul records the time after the tomb this way:

³For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance^[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Peter,^[b] and then to the Twelve. ⁶After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Notice anyone missing?

The women who saw him first, whom were chosen by Jesus to be seen first, were left out.

Jesus never leaves the marginalized out. never. Women were precious to him. Children were precious to him. Samataritans were precious to him. Gentiles were precious to him. You and I and all of us ARE PRECIOUS TO HIM.

If only we have faith.

The women arose from worshipping the Lord, and went into town to tell the others. What started out as a terrible day, had suddenly been changed into a day filled with inexpressible joy (Meeting Jesus can do that). The contrast between the journey to and from the tomb is overwhelming. the steps they take now are full of faith and hope, something they didn’t have plenty of when they had gotten up that morning.
IV FAITH IN THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS THERE IS SALVATION

Finally, what does the empty tomb mean to our faith.

It means first and foremost, we have been forgiven of our sins, the debt has been pain and there is salvation for us all.

Amen?

The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:7, "AND IF CHRIST HAS NOT BEEN RAISED, YOUR FAITH IS FUTILE AND YOU ARE STILL IN YOUR SINS..."
Having faith is as essential as having a good door on a submarine.

Jesus said "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. But darn it it takes more than faith as small as a mustard seed to understand and believe that what you can't see can change your eternal destiny.

It takes, well, Jesus.

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we^[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. ⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Faith in the empty tomb means come on home, you've been forgiven, the battle is over, love has risen and hope has won.

Amen and amen.

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