Jesus Lives

Campbell Chapel Free Will Baptist Church

Ironton, Ohio

Campbell Chapel FWBC of Ironton Ohio - Pastor Bob Bradley

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Free Will Baptist Church
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Ironton, Ohio 45638

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Jesus Lives

March 19, 2008

Bob Bradley

_________________________

Matthew 28:1-10

1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men .

5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

As we look at what has been happening, we studied last week about Jesus dying, about the trial actually and we talked about Him going to the cross at nine o’clock in the morning. We talked about that on Sunday night also. We talked about all that He went through; the beatings, the scourging, the spitting in His face, the mocking, and the ridiculing. Even before He got to the cross and when they nailed Him there and all those that were around the cross so many that were there. They went by and wagged their heads, in jest, no doubt. Many made the statement, “If you are really the Christ then come down from the cross and we will believe you.” Others said, “He saved others, but Himself, He cannot save.” So many things happened while He was there. We talked about the darkness and the blackness on Sunday night that happened.

About three o’clock in the afternoon, we know that He died. He did not faint. He did not, as some of the world folks would like to make us believe, the Bible says that He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. He died. The soldiers came along, because they did not want the people being on the tree or on the cross, being crucified because it was drawing near the Sabbath day, and they came along and break the legs of the thief that was on the right hand side and that was on the left hand side. When they came to Jesus they found that He was already dead. The Bible tells us that they did not break any of His bones. It would have been impossible for them to do that because the scripture had already said many hundreds of years before that not a bone of Him shall be broken. There was a soldier there that thrust a spear into His side and we know that blood and water came out.

We know that there were a couple of fellows there that were disciples of Jesus, people of means, people that were very wealthy people. We had been introduced to one of them and Todd read some of the scripture there having to do with the discourse with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was, no doubt, was one of Jesus’ disciples. We know that he was and not only that, he was one the Sanhedrin. He was on the governing counsel in the land of Israel. He came and also Joseph of Arimathaea; Joseph, being a very rich man. We know that Joseph was a follower or disciple of Jesus. They came and they wanted the body of Jesus Christ. They wanted His body. They did not want anything to happen to it. They did not want His enemies to take it. They did not want anything like that to happen. They begged for the body of Jesus. We know the scripture tells us that when they had determined that Jesus was dead and Pilate agreed that He was dead; then he gave them permission to take down the body of Jesus from the cross. This happened between three o’clock and six o’clock on Friday afternoon. Joseph had a new tomb that had been hewn out of the rock that the Bible says where nobody ever laid. They take Jesus over here and begin to embalm Him, and begin to wrap Him, doing the things that they did at that time to insure embalming. Since it was close to the Sabbath Day they had to quit. We know that they did not get finished. We know that they had to quit because of all the things that was going on.

Keep in mind the mood of Joseph, Nicodemus and not only that Mary Magdalene, Mary, Joanna, Salma and all these other women that we have been introduced to that is going to come on Sunday morning. Understand their mood. Understand they had just watched all their hope, or they thought; was gone. They thought here is the Messiah; here is the long awaited Messiah. They believed that. Not only did the women believe that, but Peter believed that. Joseph believed that. Nicodemus believed that. These people believed that. These believed that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. These people believed that. However, now they see their hopes all dashed because Jesus is gone. He is dead. He is gone.

I can just imagine. I want you to think tonight, I want you to put yourself in that position.

If you would have been there…

If you would have watched Him die…

If you would have been there when they put Him in the tomb—and of course they are going to roll the stone over here a little bit later—

If you would have been there…

…and having the thoughts about Him being the Messiah…

being the King of Israel….

Him going to come to bring deliverance, peace and salvation; and now that is gone.

Your hopes would have been dashed also. Your heart would have been broken. Here you are thinking that He is the one who is going to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Romans. Here is the one who is that is going to finally come and that God said is going to bring peace, and liberty and all these things. Here He is but now He is gone. Their hearts were broken. There were many people crying and it was a very sorrowful time for a lot of folks. The sad part about it is that for the million or two people that were there, for the majority of them, it was just another day that Rome was going to crucify some people and they were going to die. It was just another day for most people.

I think today when we mention the name of Jesus Christ, we mention about Jesus Christ returning to earth, we mention to people today that He is still yet alive; it is just another day. It does not mean anything to so many people today. The sad part about all of that is that one day everybody is going to know that Jesus Christ is alive. They are going to know that.

We don’t know how much time we have left here. We don’t have any idea of that. We need to be telling people that Jesus Christ is alive. He is alive. He is not dead.

Turn to John’s gospel chapter 20 and we are going to read and talk here just a little bit. As we look here at these two different accounts; actually all four writers in the gospel mention about the resurrection. Each one gives us more information or different information than the others.

It there was a wreck out here in the street tonight and we were all standing out there watching this wreck happen; we could get you all separated and ask you what you had seen, some of you would see the same thing, but a lot of you would things that somebody else did not see.

The writers here in the four gospels are like that. We are getting the events here wrote down—we know that they are inspired by God, we understand that—but we are getting the inside here from four different directions. Not only that, but these events are going to be happening early on Sunday morning. They are going to be happening here right about daylight. The people that are gong to be coming to the tomb, the women and Peter, and John; they are going to be coming from a mile or two away. So they are going to be coming from different directions, from different places. As the information all comes together, and then we know what Mary saw, what John saw, and what Peter saw. When we put all this together, we can come some close idea about the events that had taken place here on what we call Easter Sunday morning.

I know that there are different ways of looking at things, and I understand all that. The thing that we need to remember is this; it does not really matter how the events are laid out necessarily. We know that John outran Peter and John gets to the tomb and he stops and Peter goes on in; it does not matter whether that happened at 6:20 Am or 7:30 AM; that does not really matter. It does not really matter about what time some of the women got there. The thing that matters is what they saw when they got there.

He had to rise up after sunrise because it had to be on Sunday because He had already that after three days He would raise from the dead. We know that it had to be after sunrise on Sunday. We understand that. The order of events that we put all this stuff in does not really matter. The thing that matters and the thing that is significant is that Jesus gets up from the dead. That is the important thing.

He has died and they put Him in the tomb. We know that some of the folks went and talked; they could remember that while Jesus was alive that He said you destroy this temple and after three days I am going raise it up. They go and they begin to talk about this thing. They went and they asked for some soldiers to guard the tomb to make sure that someone does not come along and steal His body. They could spread news that He arose from the dead and the last end of the thing be worst than the first, so and so forth. They sent a whole group of soldiers over here to sit and to guard a tomb where a dead man is at. Now that does not make much sense, does it? They put a stone up here. They put a wax all around it; some kind of a seal, a wax seal all around it. They seal it all up and they do that because that they could know if anybody tampered with the stone or not. Here they are; they sit out there and they watch this tomb where Jesus Christ is at.

I can imagine the soldiers; “We are sitting out here in a graveyard watching a tomb. We want to make sure that somebody does not come along and steal this.” But do you know what they did not have any idea of? They did not have any idea that Jesus Christ was going to raise from the dead. They had no idea of that. They did not have to worry about somebody coming and stealing Him. That was not going to happen but He was going to get up.

Here they are. They are guarding it. They are watching the tomb. They are probably doing all kinds of different things that we don’t know what they are doing. But the Bible says that in John 20.

John 20

1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

If you remember, in reading the other accounts; the ladies are coming to the tomb. They had started on Friday afternoon embalming His body, wrapping and putting spices and different things. They would lay the body down and they would take linen and they would put a wrap of linen around the body and they would put spices all over it. Then they would take another wrap of linen and they did that to basically keep down the smell but it also preserved the body and did some things that were there. However, they did not get finished with embalming the body.

So here they are—these women—maybe eight or ten of them coming to the tomb. They are coming back here to finish embalming Him. As you read, you will find out that as they are talking, as they are coming towards the tomb; they are talking among themselves, “How are we going to roll the stone away?” The stone would have been huge. It was a limestone rock. A limestone is solid three by three cubic yard of limestone and probably weighs about three thousand pounds. I’d say this rock was probably bigger than that; probably four or five thousand pounds. However, they were thinking about how that they were going to roll the stone away. How that they were going to get access to His body. That would have been a good thing to think about. That would have been a thought that they should have been thinking about. It is also worth noting here that it was not Peter that was going to come and finish this job. It was not John, it was not any of the other disciples, it was not Joseph or Nicodemus, but it was some women that were going to come and finish this job.

It shows here how much these women really loved Jesus Christ. It shows here how much dedication and devotion they really had for Him. They thought that He was dead. They thought He was dead. They did not think that He was going to get up. They wanted to come and make sure that His body was persevered. That is what they were doing. They were probably sad. I know that they were sad and probably crying, no doubt. They were talking about this here, “…while it was yet dark they come…and they see the stone rolled away…”

As you read the whole context of things here…

2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

They get there and they see that the stone is rolled away. As you read what is happening here, and as I read to you a minute ago in Matthew 28, they see some things here. We are going to talk about that on just a little bit further in a minute. But in John’s gospel, it tells us that when they get here that they see the stone rolled away. They take off in a run back towards where Peter and the rest of the disciples are at because they go back and say, “Hey, they have taken our Lord’s body away. We don’t know anything about it. We don’t where they took it to. They took His body away.” They are talking unto Peter and they are talking unto John. They said unto them, “…they have taken the Lord’s body away out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.” Their concern was, Peter, and some of you other guys come and help us find the body of Jesus. They have come and they have taken Him away. The stone is rolled away. We don’t know where they took Him to. We want to finish embalming Him. We want to finish this thing so you come and help us find where He is at.

3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

As you read the whole context, they go back running to the sepulcher, to the tomb. We know that John is going to outrun Peter. John is probably younger than Peter is. John stops outside the tomb and Peter goes on in. They are looking to find His body. They are not looking for somebody that is alive. They are looking for His body.

4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

Here they come. They come to the tomb. They run there. John stops on the outside and Peter goes on in. He sees the grave clothes laying there. He sees the linen that had been wrapped around His corpse and the napkins that had been wrapped around His head. It is all still yet there. If someone had come and stole the body, they would not have taken time to unwrap Him. They would have picked Him and took Him with the grave clothes and went on. When you look at this and you see what has happened here; when they see the grave clothes lying in there, it would paint the picture in my mind that the clothes are still laying just like they were when Jesus was in them. When He got up from the dead, He did not unwrap Himself from the grave clothes or the linen, but He just simply came through them. So when they see the linen clothes lying there, it would have looked like a cocoon. It would have looked like something had been in there and gone. That is what they are seeing here. They are seeing the napkin that was round about His head lying in a different spot by itself. They are seeing that He is not here. They are seeing some things that are not registering with them.

8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

John stops on the outside and Peter goes on in. After awhile John goes on in and he sees what Peter is telling him and what the other women are telling him that Jesus is not there. They are using the word “believe” here. He does not believe that He has rose from the dead. He believes that He is not there. That is what he believing. He believes what Peter is saying, “John, He is not in here.” The women are saying, “Guys, He is not here.” That is what He believes. He does not believe that He has rose from the dead. At this particular time, they did not believe that He had risen from the dead.

9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

So they leave. Peter, John and the disciples are here. They go into the tomb. The stone had been rolled away. They go inside. They see the grave clothes still yet laying here. They see the napkin that was here. Jesus is not here. They cannot figure it out. They know that He is gone. Like most men, it is too early in the morning to be up. It is too early in the morning to be up walking around in a grave yard, looking for somebody that we know is dead. They did not believe that He had risen from the dead.

Don’t be too hard on these guys. They did not have what we have. They did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit like you and I have today. They did not have the complete full revelation of the Word of God that we have today. They did not have that. The only thing they had is what Jesus had told them. Of course, they had the Old Testament books, but to have what you and I have today, they didn’t have that. For us to believe today that Jesus did not rise from the dead is whole lot more of a crime than what they did not believe that He had raised from the dead. We have the evidence today. We have the proof today. We have the revelation of God. We have the witness if we are saved, within us today, that He is alive.

They go, they did not find. The grave clothes are there. The tomb is empty so they leave. They just go back home.

11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

Mary stays here. She was not going to give up. She wants to find His body.

It is something, when you look at people’s lives and when people really, appreciate what Jesus Christ has done for them; we are not easily persuaded to give up. We are not easily persuaded to throw in the towel and say, “…well, what’s the use?” We are not that way at all.

I have seen many folks come to an altar before, bragging that they are going to give all their talents to the Lord. I’ve seen some of them in a day, two or three, or a week or two; they have got up and said that God called them to preach. They did all this other stuff and they make a big splash for a week or two or a year or two and they are gone. Listen, God don’t need your talents. If God wants you to do something, He will give you the talents that He wants you to have. You may be able to sing like a songbird today, but if God saves you, you may not be able to sing a lick. You may not need to sing. It may not be what God wants you to do. We need to understand that sometimes.

For these women here, God had done some great things. When you read about some of the things that the Lord had done for these women, it will let you understand what kind of a life that they were living before Jesus Christ touched them. They weren’t just going to throw their hands up and quit. Peter may have been, John may have been and some of these other guys they were just going to give up. However, these women were not just going to give up. She stood outside weeping. She was heartbroken because Jesus was not there. They could not find His body. Here the men were, they were going to leave her and go back home. The women were going to be by themselves. She was weeping.

11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

She is crying. She is weeping. She is wondering where they have taken the body to. She doesn’t have any idea. She gets down, stoops down, looks into the sepulcher and she sees something.

It would have been wonderful to have been there.

12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

When you read the different accounts of this, it talks about how they were shinning, and how that their countenance was like lightning. They were very bright.

We know that we could have got the account of some angels being here. We know that if we read the other accounts that when the earthquake came and rolled the stone away and the angel came down and sat upon the stone. The keepers that were keeping watch over the tomb, the Bible says that they became as dead men. Do you remember reading that? The angel sat upon the stone that was there.

There were more than these two angels that were there. Probably if we could have been there on that morning and saw or looked around there probably were hundreds or even millions of angels hovering over this place. I don’t know, but I believe that there were more than two there.

Here they are. She sees the two angels sitting. The Bible says, one at the head and one at the foot where the body of Jesus had lain. Does that tell you anything? Does that get your attention? One at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus was at, shinning, their very radiance, and the brightness of the glory of God is very bright in that place. It might have been dark on the outside. It might have been just getting daylight then, but as she looked into that hewn stone, hewn sepulcher, that had been hewed out of stone. The light was real bright in there.

13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

Do you think if you would have been there, one of those women that would have got your attention? If you would have been in a grave yard and thought that you were there by yourself, and someone speaks to you; I guarantee you that would have got your attention, because you think everybody there is going to be dead.

Years ago, we use to scare people like that. We would take them to the grave yard and run off and leave them like that. What people don’t understand is that that is the safest place to be because people in there are dead. They are not going to bother you. However, people did not look at things that way.

Here the angels are, and they speak to Mary. “Don’t weep. What are you weeping about?”

13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

So the conversation was this. She sees the angels, one at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus has laid. She is weeping. They say unto her, “Why are you crying? What is wrong?” She says, “They have taken away my Lord and I don’t where they have laid Him at.” That is why she was crying.

14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

The angel speaks to her and she speaks to the angel. She turns around and she sees someone. She saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus speaks to Mary and asks her, “Why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

Mary looked at Jesus here in the darkness of the morning. She was thinking that Jesus was the gardener. She was thinking that the gardener had come and they had rolled the stone and they had taken Him somewhere else. That is what Mary thinking. She was thinking that He was just the gardener. That is what she was thinking.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

“Jesus said unto her, Mary…”

We are out here in a crowd hearing all kinds of racket. People are talking, and jabbering and you don’t pay too much attention to it until somebody hollers Bob, or John or whatever. You may not know what all the conversation is but if you hear your name, you know it don’t you? Not only that, but something greater than that. Isn’t it great when Jesus Christ speaks our name? Isn’t it great?

She was heartbroken. She was going through a difficult time. Her heart was broken, but He says Mary. Isn’t it wonderful the comfort that Jesus Christ can bring even in death? Even in death Jesus Christ can bring comfort. She was suffering. She was depressed. She was heartbroken. Now she hears someone speak her name that she had no doubt heard many times before. She knew the voice.

I have said many times, that we had better make sure of what voice that we are listening to, what voice that we are following. There are many voices out there. However, we had better know the voice of Jesus Christ.

As we read this book. As we submit our selves to this book, as we submit ourselves to the will of God, as we speak to Him and He speaks to us then we become more acquainted with His name and not only His name but His voice. We become more acquainted with that. The sad part is that when He speaks a lot of people don’t know who He is. Many people may have went to church all their life and don’t know who He is. That is the sad place to live.

He wants us to have a personal, intimate relationship with Him. He wants us to be able to simply talk to Him as we talk to our husband, wife, dad, mom or children. That is the kind of relationship that Jesus Christ wants to have with us.

It is the same thing with you; when your husband, wife, or kids talks to you, you know their voice. In the same way, He wants us to be able to know His voice when He speaks.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

She knew exactly who it was then. The Bible goes on and says this…

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

When you read the other accounts, it indicates to us that they get down and touch Him and handle Him before He ascends. That does not happen. When you read what happens, they do fall at His feet. We know that they do that. However, it would not have been possible for them to touch Him here before He ascends back to heaven. Because the body here that He has got has got to go back to heaven. There has got to be an offering made. He has shed His blood. Read the book of Hebrew and it will you something about why that the women could not touch His body before He has ascended. He has been purified, He has died, but if they would have came over to touch Him, and He would have been contaminated again with sin. The body had to be perfect and it was perfect. It was Holy and there was not a spot or blemish in it and He was not about to let these women defile that before He was offered as an offering.

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

If you read the other accounts, even in our little skit tonight, when Mary comes back and tells Peter and the others what has happened that Jesus had rose from the dead the Bible says that it seemed unto them like idle tales, like idle words. They did not believe that Mary had actually seen or talked to Him.

Jesus Christ is alive tonight. He will never ever again to die anymore. He came to this earth. He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. He died on a cross just outside the city of Jerusalem. They put Him in a tomb over there for awhile. He arose for the dead very early on the first day of the week. He is alive forever more. One day, He is coming back to planet earth to get His folks, not only that but He is coming back to judge this world.

My prayer is today that you will make things right with Him today while you have time.

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