This morning, as we give our attention to the study of God's Word, we near the end of the Gospel of Matthew. And today, I would like to talk to you about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that's what I've titled this morning's message, as we look at Matthew 28, verses 1 to 15. The importance of the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, to the Gospel itself cannot be overstated. In fact, there is no aspect of the gospel that is more essential to the doctrine of the Bible than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because it is the resurrection itself that is the hope of our salvation. If Christ be not raised, then we are still in our sins. If there is no resurrection, then Christ is not God. What he said is not true. And the whole of the New Testament is a lie. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, by way of introduction, if you want to turn there together with me, perhaps better than anywhere else in Scripture in a very short passage, summarizes the gospel message for us very succinctly and very adequately and also talks about the importance of the doctrine of resurrection to that very subject. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, Paul says, I make known to you, brethren, the gospel, that is the good news which I preached to you, which also you received and which also you stand. I'm declaring to you the very message that you responded to initially, that you believed from the beginning about Jesus Christ and about salvation. I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word or the message which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. And if you really did believe the message that we proclaimed to you, then listen, this is the foundation of the hope of your salvation. Because I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that is, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. that he was buried and that he was raised on a third day according to the scriptures. The reason the gospel is good news is because Jesus did die and he did rise again. He died and paid for our sins and he rose again, proving that he was who he claimed to be and that God accepted his death as the sufficient sacrifice for our sins. When you get to verse 5, Paul goes on to say that he appeared to Cephas, that is, Peter. That's just the Aramaic word for Peter or the Aramaic word for stone. He appeared to Peter, to Cephas, and then to the 12. And after that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time. That is a reference almost certainly to the text we'll be looking at next week, Matthew 28, verses 16 to 20, at the end of the chapter where he gives the Great Commission. And most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. In other words, if you want to talk to those people that were there, most of them are still around. You can go ask them. They saw the resurrected Christ. They heard him. They touched him. And then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me, and you remember when Acts tells us about how the Apostle Paul saw the persecutor at that time, met Jesus on the road and was converted. You know, when we look at the gospel message and the good news that Jesus says, come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. And we recognize that Jesus did die on the cross to pay for our sins. All of that hope, all of that Trust all of that confidence, all of that promise from God is founded on the truth of the resurrection. Ball goes on to say. I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church, but by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace toward me didn't prove vain, but instead I labored even more than all of them. Yet it wasn't I who was laboring, but the grace of God within me. So then, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believe. This is the message that we're all proclaiming. Jesus died. He paid for our sins. He was buried and He rose again the third day and we saw Him alive. The hope of the resurrection is not founded on an empty tomb. The empty tomb is one of the witnesses. The first century believers did not have confidence in the resurrection on the basis of an empty grave. They had confidence on the resurrection on the basis of an empty grave, coupled with an eyewitness experience of seeing Jesus risen from the dead. You know, the empty tomb is significant, but not by itself. Our hope, our certainty of the resurrection is not just built on the tomb is empty. It's built on the tomb is empty and we saw him alive. Now, if Christ is preached, verse 12, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there's no resurrection of the dead, then even Christ hasn't been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. The whole of our hope in Christ is meaningless without the resurrection. If Jesus didn't rise the third day. Then he doesn't sit at the right hand of the father right now, ever living to intercede on our behalf. His death did not pay for our sins and we have no hope of forgiveness. In fact, Not only is our faith worthless and useless, Paul goes on to say in verse 15, moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God because we're testifying against God that he raised Christ. In other words, the whole of the apostolic message, everything you read in the New Testament says Jesus died and he rose again. So if he didn't really rise the third day, then we're all telling you a lie. Verse 16. If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless because you are still in your sins. And those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. They die believing in a lie. Verse 19, and if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, then we are of all men most to be, what's it say? Pity. Because you're we're we're giving our whole lives. To a dead person. But that's not what the Gospel says. That's not the message of the Bible. The message of the Bible, predicted by the Old Testament, prophetically declared in advance by Jesus Himself, and demonstrated and attested to throughout the New Testament, is that Jesus didn't just come born of a virgin. Jesus didn't just live a perfect life. Jesus didn't just teach the truth. Jesus didn't just say He is the way, the truth, and the life. and that no one comes to the Father except by Him. He demonstrated the truthfulness of His claim to be equal with God. And it was proven, His promise, that His death was sufficient for us. Not just when He died, but when He rose again. Not just when the tomb was found to be empty, but when He was revealed in person physically to the disciples and they became convinced He has indeed risen from the dead. And they watched as He ascended right back to heaven. to sit at the right hand of the Father from whence He'd come. That is the hope of our salvation. That is the certainty of our hope in the good news about Jesus Christ. As our Lord and Savior, the author and perfecter of our faith, He came, He died, and He rose again and ascended right back to heaven from whence He came. That's the hope of the Gospel. And that is why I am confident to place the whole of my trust for now and for eternity in Him because of who He is and because of the reliability of the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has risen. Period. What I would like to do is have you turn back to Matthew 28 with me now. And as we look at verses 1 to 15, I would like to share with you four concrete proofs. with regard to the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Four witnesses that attest to the fact that the resurrection did indeed happen, and it is undeniable. And this is the consistent testimony, not just of Matthew, but of all the Gospels of the entire New Testament and of those first century disciples who were even willing to die for this truth, even though they were the people that were hardest to convince that He had indeed risen. I hope that as we go through this text, for those of you who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have given your life to Him, I hope this text confirms the validity of your faith, and it gives you a greater sense of hope and assurance in your salvation, and your own resurrection one day when he calls you home. I hope for those of us who face death, we are able to face death with hope, looking forward to the glorious future in store for us because Christ died for us and rose again. And I hope it also motivates you to boldly and clearly testify to others that hope is available for those who will trust in Christ. And the clear testimony from scriptures is that Jesus not only died, his an actual factual historical event, but so, too, did he rise again the third day. And the evidences that I will present to you from Matthew will demonstrate this right from the text. Now, there are four clear witnesses to the resurrection that I'll share with you, and I'm going to give them to you in advance so you can write them down. I did have to confess to Chuck Elder's prayer beforehand. They're not all A's, but they are all vowels. So maybe this is the Vanna White style of preaching. I bought four vowels, two A's and two E's. Are you ready? The four certain evidences that attest to the historicity of the resurrection of Matthew 28 are the angelic appearance, the empty tomb, the eyewitness accounts and the attempted cover up. I'll do them again. the angelic appearance, that's verses 1 to 4, the empty tomb, verses 5 to 8, the eyewitness accounts, verses 9 and 10, and the attempted cover-up, verses 11 to 15. We're going to take a look at each of these in order, and I want you to see the certainty of our hope in the resurrection is based upon clear and concrete evidences that you can count on. First of all, the angelic appearance starting in verse one. You see that we come to resurrection Sunday. We're told in verse one that after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. This is you know who Mary Magdalene, you know, the other Mary, because we talked about them last time. These are the two two of the ladies amongst the plurality of women that were disciples of Jesus, that loved Jesus and were traveling with Him, etc. They were also amongst those women who were there at the cross, standing off at a distance, watching Him die, and they even followed Jesus as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea took the body down from the cross and took Him and buried in Joseph's new tomb. They are there, and they come back the first day of the week. Now, if you compare this, and you don't need to turn there, let me just point out a couple of verses, In Mark chapter 16 and Luke chapter 24, in the parallel accounts, we're told in Mark 16 that it was Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph who were looking on to see where Jesus was buried. So on Friday afternoon, when they saw Jesus laid in the tomb, they were outside watching as it happened. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome. So that's the mother of the Sons of Thunder, James and John. So you can see that it's more than just these two women that were there. In fact, Lucas tells us that it's the plurality of women that were typically traveling with Jesus that were part of this. But when the Sabbath was over, they brought spices so that they might come and anoint him. So the whole reason they went to the tomb was not because they said, well, it's been three days. Let's go see how Jesus is." And wasn't it? They too were expecting to find the body there in the tomb. But they went to the tomb and they took the spices in order to show respect for Him in accordance with the typical traditions of those who experience the death of a loved one. We're told in verse 2, very early the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? That's what Mark tells us as far as the nature of these women and why they even went to the tomb. If you look at the parallel text in Luke, you can see in Luke 23, starting in verse 54, it was the day of preparation when Jesus was crucified. That is Friday and the Sabbath was about to begin. The Sabbath begins right at sundown. I suspect it was very much in those days like it is even today. Kath and I were in Jerusalem this past summer. And I'll tell you what, when sundown comes on Friday, they do everything but roll up the streets. All the shops close, everything gets packed away, everybody puts on their Sabbath vest and they head down to the temple, they go down to the wailing wall, down to the western wall of the temple and they begin to pray. And the whole of the Jewish population is there and it's cool to see it. It's a whole people go collectively as one to worship God. and uh... that continues that whole night and all day saturday it's quiet and uh... then when sundown saturday comes it's party time uh... all the sudden all the restrictions are lifted and it's back to being normal people again in jesus' day when sundown comes business stops until sundown on the sabbath so from sundown friday until sundown saturday there's no business transactions there's nobody open et cetera We're told the women who had come with Jesus out of Galilee followed as they went to see where Jesus was buried. And they saw the tomb and how his body was laid and they returned, that is returned to the city and they prepared spices and perfumes. So they quickly put together the spices and perfumes that they were going to use to anoint the body. But they couldn't do it now because the Sabbath started on Friday evening. So they stayed home Saturday on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. Luke 24 verse 1 on the first day of the week that is Sunday at early dawn they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. When they get there they found the stone the stone rolled away from the tomb. So that's basically what's happening here as you look at these three gospels and put them together. That's basically the events of resurrection Sunday morning. The women are there, they see Jesus crucified, they follow the body to the tomb, they see where he's been laid, they go back home, they get together the spices and everything in preparation for anointing the burial, and then they take Saturday off because that's what the scripture says in keeping the Sabbath. Sunday morning rolls around, first thing Sunday morning. What do they do? They get up, they meet together, and they head straight off to the tomb. And their intention is to anoint the body. And what they're talking about on their way there is who's going to move the stone. Follow me? Why would they ask about who's going to move the stone? Well, if you remember from your flannel graft days, the stone is what? This huge boulder, bigger than the boulders in the Flintstones. Now, I don't want to undermine your heritage. I remember seeing those same flannel graphs when I was in Sunday school as a kid. But that's not what the stone looked like. The stone that was set in those graves, like what we're talking about here, that Jesus was buried in, as we talked about, it was a quarry. So they were in there, and they were mining and digging out good stones and everything, and they used most of those stones to build the temple. When it stopped producing good stone, then they just turned it into basically a graveyard. And you carve into the rock, and you carve these nice little niches to be graves, some family graves. And the typical process of burying somebody is when the person dies, you wrap them in a shroud. You've got a face cloth. You've got the spices and the anointing, et cetera, just to show honor and etc. You take them in to the back part of the tomb and you lay them on one of the benches that have been carved into the stone there. You come back a year later. You gather up the bones into a little box, a stone box. It's called an ossuary. And then after they've decayed and there's nothing basically but bones and dust left, you sweep it into the box. You bring it out to the front room in this tomb and you set it there on the floor. And that's That's called gathering someone to their fathers. That's the normal process. That's what that's what they still do to a large extent. As far as the some of the tombs that you can see there, they still have these things that you can see in Israel. Well, when the ladies get there, they're concerned about who's going to move the stone for us, because that stone would be about some of those stones could be that they're basically Well, not to use multiple Flintstone references, but those would be like those huge round stones, like you see as the wheels in the Flintstones. And it was just one big solid chunk of stone that was carved out and rounded. And it could be anywhere from six inches to a foot or two in thickness. And it would sit as a great big stone wheel in a track. And then it would be slightly a slant. So you have a little ditch in the track so it sits up at the high point. And then you get it over that and roll it down. And gravity brings it nicely down in front of the entrance to the tomb. And now it's sealed. Now, it's not too hard. You just need a little bit of oomph, maybe a little bit of leverage to pop it up and get it to roll down in place and seal the tomb. to roll it back up and open the tomb. Now you're talking about some muscle. I mean, we could probably get like John and Alex and a couple of you guys to put a big strong... Well, John just got out of his boot, so maybe we wait a couple of weeks before we have John help. So Reuben will have to fill in. But we're talking about some serious muscle. Obviously, you're not going to ask me to help. You're going to want guys with real strength. So this is what the ladies are concerned about. How are we going to get into the tomb? that they're not they're not on their way expecting a resurrection. They're not going to tea with Jesus and hoping to be the first ones to see him resurrected. They're going just to show their love and affection and respect and still in grief and mourning and seeking to treat him with respect regardless of what Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus have done. They love Jesus and they want to show that affection. That's why they're going. That's what's going on here. So Mary Magdalene and the other Mary along with some of the other ladies that Matthew doesn't bother to point out. They make their way to the tomb. And behold, verse two, you can underline that if you underline key words in your Bibles, because this and behold occurs six times in this one chapter. This is a this is a word that best translates to check this out. Take note of this. Hey, notice. This is an emphatic type of a word. This is a big deal here. I want you to catch this. Behold, a severe earthquake had occurred for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. Now, I told you the stone is just basically a big stone wheel that's rolled down in front of the opening, right? Well, if he rolled it back up and sat it in its track at the top part, You're not going to be sitting on it, right? It's still up on its end. To sit on it, what has to happen to that stone? It's taken up out of its track and laid down. I already told you how heavy it is and how hard it is to move it, just to roll it up, right? This wasn't rolled. There was a great earth... You know, by the way, see the word severe? It's a Greek word, great. Megas. Mega is our word. Do you know what it literally means? I mean, severe, great, big. There was a big earthquake, shook it, shook it enough to take that stone, pick it up and drop it out of its track onto the ground. Well, what caused the earthquake? But this is really odd that a seismic event would just what's a natural aftershock just a couple of days after Friday? No, it's not. What does it say in the text? A severe earthquake had occurred. Why? Because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. What caused the earthquake? The angel did. When he came down, grabbed a hold of the stone, ripped it out of the track and dropped it on the ground. This is the thing, I know we're going to get there, but this is the thing that just tickles me to no end. When the whole idea that the guards slept through stealing the body. You know something? We have cats in our house. and dogs. So it's not a fully sanctified house, but we do have cats and still more cats than dogs, so it's a mostly sanctified house. In any case, even though the dog weighs over 100 pounds, the dog does not make as much noise when it runs around the house as the cats do when they run around upstairs. When they jump off of one of the upper shelves onto the floor above us, you can hear it in the whole house. You can hear it in the garage. Those of you who have kids, Right. Have you ever heard the kids playing and all of a sudden there's a loud bang and it can even wake you up from a nap on the couch? OK, this is bigger than even the bang that your kids make. This is a massive boom and the ground shakes. And what made the ground shake? The angel, when he came down and took the rock, the stone and dropped it on the ground and then he sat on it. Now, take a look at what the reaction is to this event. First, we're told the reaction by the guards, because they're the ones that were there that saw this. His appearance was like lightning, his clothing as white as snow, and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. It's interesting when you look at verse 3 and the description of the angel that rolled away the stone. It's fascinating how similar it is to the other accounts in the Bible of an angelic appearance or even of the appearance of God. For example, the transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew chapter 17, when He's all glowing and brilliant with the glory of God reflecting off of Him. And you remember the disciples' ever-so-mature and with-it type of response to that, right? They all fall down and Peter goes, Oh Lord, it's good to be here. We should build tents and just stay. Relax, dude. When you go to, for example, Daniel chapter 10. You don't have to turn there. You can listen as I read. Daniel chapter 10. Starting in verse 5, Daniel has a vision. And I want you to notice, this is a vision. And he is the only one that sees it. This is like the experience the Apostle Paul had on the road when he's the only one that understood the voice. On the 24th day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waistcoat was girded with the belt of pure gold of Uphaz, and his body was like beryl, and his face had the appearance of lightning. His eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and his feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his word like the sound of a tumult. This is the angelic visitation that he gets. And he says, I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, but the men who were with me, they didn't see the vision. Nevertheless, a great dread fell upon them and they ran away to hide themselves. You know something, when an angel of God shows up, it is a representation of God and his holiness that causes what reaction? Fear. And in God's people, fear coupled with worship mixed with joy. For those who are not God's people, fear coupled with what? Terror. That's exactly what you see happening here in Matthew chapter 28. I'm reminded of in the days of Moses and the Exodus. Remember when When God delivers the nation of Israel from bondage in Egypt and He brings them to the base of Mount Sinai. Some of you are right in this time, right in this context in your Bible reading. You either just finished it or sitting in front of you. What happened when the nation of Israel got to the base of Mount Sinai? What happened? God shows up and the ground quakes and everybody is filled with terror And they say to Moses, you go talk to him and we'll wait here. You just come back and tell us what he said. And you know what God says that that's good advice, because I am too holy to look upon sin with favor. It's good that they don't get close to me lest I destroy them because of their sin. When God shows up, when an angel shows up, even the apostle John, when Christ shows up in Revelation chapter 1, he's overwhelmed. Even the angel that he talks to in Revelation chapter 19, he is so overwhelmed, he falls down at the angel's feet and worships, and the angel has to rebuke him and say, see, thou do it not. Worship God, I am thy fellow servant. Sorry, that's King James, but that's what I memorized. Look, when one of God's messengers, when a holy angel shows up, do you know the response of people, all of us, You know what it is? It's fear and either worship, if you're one of God's people, or fear and terror, the dread of judgment that you know you deserve. That's what happens when you encounter the glory of God. There will be no arguing your case when you stand before the great white throne. There just won't be. There won't be any debate. There won't be any discussion. And just the arrival of it. Think about the angels. You know, our Christmas carols, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Glory to the newborn king. They show up. They talk to the they appear to the to the shepherds just outside of Bethlehem while they're keeping their flocks by night. And when the angel shows up, what do they do? They're afraid. Why? Because when you see the holiness of God, you immediately become fully aware of your own sin and sinfulness. This is an angelic visitation and the angel shows up and it's the angel who opens the tomb. It's not the women. It's not the soldiers. And it's not Jesus that opens the tomb. Have you ever thought about that? How did Jesus get out? How did Jesus get out? He walked out. He walked through the stone. He didn't need the stone to be open to get out of the tomb. You know, when you look at the resurrection accounts in Luke 24, he walks through the door to enter into the room because the disciples have locked themselves in to protect themselves from the religious leaders. And so so Jesus just walks right in, walks right through the door. And when he leaves, he walked right back out through the door. Jesus doesn't need the stone open to get out. The resurrection is not dependent upon the stone being moved. Why was the stone removed and why was it removed the way it was removed? And why is the angel there sitting on it in front of these guards? There's a testimony to God has opened the tomb so you can come in and see it's empty because Christ is risen. Christ is risen. This is no fabrication. This is an act of God, and I invite you to come in and see the evidences of what I have done. And His appearance was like lightning, His clothing as white as snow. This is an angel from God. And the guards shook for fear of Him and became like dead men. That's what happens every time people come face to face with the glory of God. It would behoove each of us, even as believers, to remember our Heavenly Father is holy and conduct ourselves accordingly. I still remember years ago, Most of you guys remember the Breedvelts, right? Now, I'm not going to mention which one so that there's no needless embarrassment, but one of the sons, there was a time back when we were still all in seminary and all living in Santa Clarita. Kath will remember this. Brian went back and worked for several months at his job in the telephone company, seeking to get the completion of a severance package and all those kinds of things before he left the phone company once and for all. So he had come and done a semester and gone back home. So it worked out that he got some time off so he bought a ticket and he wanted the whole thing to be a surprise to his wife and to his family and then he flew back into town. Well, meanwhile, what Brian didn't know was one of the sons was in the midst of one of the I don't know if any of you have teenagers that tend to have like as they get older as teenagers a little bit of a rebellious streak at all. Now I don't have any teenagers like that but some of you might. And so one of Brian and Liz's sons had decided to dye his hair. Do you remember? I was trying to remember yesterday. Was it green or orange or purple? I can't remember. Just bleached. Okay. I remember different colors. So maybe he was trying to bleach it and he wound up with different shades like rainbow hair. But in any case, I just remember I just thought he looked like Bozo the Clown. But he was all proud of himself and his wife or Liz didn't do anything about it. And she was just Brian isn't here. What he doesn't know won't hurt him in the whole bit. I think that was like Sunday or Monday and Brian shows up on Thursday or Friday. I pick him up from the airport. I bring him home. This whole thing is a great big surprise and when we pull into the parking lot there at Courtyard Apartments and we get out and we're walking down the sidewalk to Courtyard. This is all staged so they're out in front of their apartment. We're walking in and here's me And here's here's Brian and he's and Liz is walking out and she sees him and she's just puzzled like she's like the women at the tomb. This can't be. How can you be real. Are you really. You know she's just but she's excited but puzzled how this could happen. Well you see the son with the the one son is just thrilled goes running for his dad. The other son immediately looks and his face changes color and his hands go right to his head. Why? I'm dead. Dad's immediately. I'm so toast. Right. Listen. That's the reality when God shows up. You will immediately think of your sin and you will immediately be fully aware of your sin and it'll be too late to repent at that point. And that's that's the effect even an angel has showing up. Imagine what the effect when God shows up is in any case. The first evidence of the resurrection. Isn't even the empty tomb. It's the fact that God opened it so that we could investigate and see that it's empty. It isn't that His disciples went and found it that way. It isn't that the guards went and opened it and checked and, oh my goodness, we're hearing all these accounts that Jesus is alive and look, the tomb actually is empty. This is God opening the tomb in such a way that He wants you to come and see it's empty. The first proof of the resurrection is the angelic appearance. The second is the empty tomb itself. The empty tomb. Notice verse 5. When the women get there, Now, when you put all the pieces together, the best way to harmonize this is that the guards experienced the earthquake and the opening of the tomb. They saw the angel. And oh, and I forgot this. When you read in verse four, they shook for fear because of him and became like dead men. Most likely, you know what that means? They passed out. They were so overwhelmed, they just collapsed like dead men. Now, we'll see when we get to verse 11, when they came to some of them went and reported what had happened. But as we pick up here in verse five, we come back to the women. When the women get to the tomb, the angel says to them, now you can compare the other gospels and see they did a little investigation and then and then the angel appears to them. But the angel speaks to them and says, do not be afraid. Why is that the first thing he says to them? Because what's the natural reaction of anybody to an angelic visitation? Fear. He says, don't be afraid. Why? Because I know you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here. He has risen. Notice this. Just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying. You know what? Do you know what the angel is there for? Not just to open it for inspection, but also to invite the disciples in to examine The fact that Jesus was there and the burial shroud and the face cloth and all the evidences that he was dead and was laying there are clear. But you know what? Or was lying there and are clear. But now it's empty and he's gone. This is God facilitating the investigation of the evidences of the resurrection. And he invites them in. Come see the place where he was lying. Just as He said He is not here, He has risen. Matthew chapter 12 in verse 40. When the religious leaders ask for a sign, Jesus says, a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign. Yet no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet, because just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so too will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." He predicted His death, burial, and resurrection from the beginning of His ministry. Matthew 16, verse 21, when Jesus is in the context of asking His disciples, Who do men say that I am? Here's all the suggestions. Who do you say that I am? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. In Matthew 16 and verse 21, we're told that from that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, must suffer many things from the hands of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes. He must be killed and be raised up on the third day. Matthew 17 and verse 23, after He comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration, We're told that while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to his disciples, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him. He will be raised on the third day. Matthew, chapter 20, in verse 19. Well, we'll start in verse 17, as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside. by themselves. And on the way He said to them, Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death. And He will hand them over, excuse me, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him. And on the third day, He will be raised up." Jesus repeatedly announced what was going to happen. long before it happened, exactly how it was going to play out, and always, always indicated it would consummate ultimately in his resurrection. And on the very night in which he was betrayed, in Matthew chapter 26, verse 30, after the Lord's Supper, and after the time in the upper room, they left And they sang a hymn, and they went out to the Mount of Olives. And in verse 31, we're told, Then Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of Me this night, because it's written, I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. This is the way it's going to play out tonight, because this is what the Old Testament said was going to happen. But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. He even predicted not just His resurrection, but their assembling together in Galilee afterwards. This is all that's happened is exactly what Jesus said was going to happen. Now, you would think that these women and even the disciples, because Jesus said it so many times, you would think that they would be looking for it, right? And we saw last time that the religious leaders were looking for it, trying to preemptively hinder that or anything like it from happening. They're the ones that posted the guards to keep the disciples from coming and staging this. You know who didn't expect the resurrection? The people were told about it repeatedly. And when it happens, you know what they were reminded of? That they were told it repeatedly. And the reason that God sent an angel to open the tomb is so that they could investigate and see, sure enough, everything Jesus said was going to happen has happened. Go look for yourself. And by the way, if you were to look at John chapter 20 verses 5 to 8, you will see that the examination of the grave clothes even reveals that the state that they're in testifies to the fact of the resurrection. Why? Because if you didn't know better, you would think that when you look at those grave clothes and the way they're all set aside and the way the face cloth, it's almost like the person that was wearing the face cloth for the last three days stood up, took it off. He folded it and put it over to the side and then walked out. Why? Because that's exactly what happened. That's a note that John, the apostle, from having gone into the tomb and looked, that's a note that John particularly remembered. I'll take it back. Peter went in, but that is a detail John remembers. The face cloth was sat over by itself. You know, if you're trying if you're trying to pull off, you know, a heist and steal the body, you know what you're not doing? You're not folding clothes. I can't get my kids to fold their clothes when they come out of the laundry. And that's the state of the tomb. That's what God sends an angel to open the tomb and allow the disciples and the world, for that matter, to come in and investigate the evidences. This tomb is empty because Jesus has risen. Notice verse 7. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead. And behold, there's your word again. Check this out. Pay special attention to this. He is going ahead of you into Galilee and there you will see Him. Isn't that exactly what He told them in Matthew 26? I will rise on the third day and I will go ahead of you to Galilee. Well, here's the angel telling the women, now go tell the disciples He's risen just like he said and that he'll meet him in Galilee. He's going to go ahead of you to Galilee and there you will see him. Notice, behold, there's our word again. Check this out. I have told you. That's the angel emphatically saying, now I've done my job. Go do yours. That's the whole reason I was sent to open the tomb, to invite you in, to give you a message, to give to the apostles and to tell you to go tell them. I've done it. Now go do what you're supposed to do." And notice the response of the women. They left the tomb quickly with fear and what? Great joy. What's that mean? It means they believed. It means they believed. And they ran to report it to His disciples. Do you know what's really fascinating to me? One of you talked about this last week, It really fascinates me that of all the options that God had for identifying the first witnesses of the resurrection, do you know who he picked to be his first chief witnesses to the resurrection? It isn't Peter. It isn't John or James. It's not Andrew. It's not one of his own family. It's not Mary. Do you know who it is? These women. These women are identified as they're given the privilege to be the very first witnesses of the empty tomb. And as we're going to see here momentarily, they are chosen to be the very first eyewitnesses of the resurrection. You know, what's most amazing about that? That's also the chief witnesses that Matthew presents at the end of his gospel. Well, why would he do that? One, because that's the way it happened. And two, because that's God's intention is to make it absolutely clear. All of this is true. You say, well, why is that a big deal? Do you realize that women are not allowed? We're not allowed in the first century Jewish context. They were not allowed to serve as witnesses in any legal case. They weren't valid witnesses. If this story was made up, do you know who the first witnesses are? Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Peter, James, John, Maybe even maybe even the apostle Paul gets saved early and he gets put in here. Right. This is going to be fabricated. You're looking for people of note to be the eyewitnesses. You know who God has chosen to be his chief eyewitnesses. The women are always in the background. The women that love Jesus are faithful to Jesus are following Jesus. I think it's a very clear indication of of God's view of people, period. Men, women, we're all bearers of God's image. We're all equal in his sight. And he brings these women forth as the chief and first witnesses to the fact of the resurrection and the fact that God would use women as his first and chief and best witnesses. You know, Matthew doesn't even refer directly to himself. And he's part of a lot of this stuff that follows. Matthew just presents these women. Why? because they believed. And they were the chief first witnesses that God chose to use as those who affirmed the resurrection. They left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and they ran to report it to his disciples. Now Mary Magdalene is special, and she has a different experience that's recorded in John 20, but we've covered that. We went through that gospel, so we're not going to go there. These women believed And they immediately leave the tomb, and without need for further evidence or convincing, they all go to talk to who? The disciples, like they were told. Notice, verse 9, what happens on the way. We get to the third testimony, the third evidence, and that's the eyewitness accounts. Verse 9, Behold, there's our word again. This is important. These are the key points that Matthew is trying to make. to demonstrate the truthfulness of the resurrection. Behold, Jesus met them and greeted them and they came up. They took hold of his feet and. Worshiped him. They worshiped him. And Jesus said to them, do not be afraid, go take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee and there they will see me. Jesus says, don't be afraid. Why? Because he's in full glory now. They see him for who he fully is in full glorified form. Their natural response is to fall at his feet and worship. And you notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, don't do that. He accepts worship. You remember in Matthew, Chapter four, I know that was just a month or so ago that we were going through Matthew, Chapter four in our study of this gospel. But you remember in Matthew four. When the devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and says to Him, All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship Me. And Jesus said to him, Go, depart from Me, Satan. It's written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. Worship only God. Now hear these women on the very morning of the resurrection fall at His feet and worship Him. And you know what He doesn't do? He doesn't rebuke them. Why? Because He is God. And He's always been God. And when they come and worship him, it's right to worship him because he is equal to God. And the resurrection demonstrates and proves everything he's been saying all this time. He receives worship. As I mentioned before, Revelation 19, verses 9 and 10, when the angel gives the instructions to John to write down the things you're seeing, John, in response, because he's so overwhelmed by the vision and so overwhelmed by the presence of the angel, falls down to worship the angel and the angel says, don't do it. I'm a fellow servant with you. Worship only God. Only God deserves worship. Only God receives worship. Only God is allowed to be worshiped. So when Jesus receives worship here, what's it affirm? He is God and he accepts the worship. Some people want to suggest some cults have suggested that Jesus is somehow less than God. Well, if he is, he's got to be a demon. He's got to be evil because he is all receiving worship as God. Only God. does that and is not evil. Jesus says, don't be afraid. Go take word to my brethren. Notice he doesn't say disciples. He says brethren. There's a little discussion here. Is he really still just saying brethren because he's he's stressing the familial relationship with his disciples? That's possible. I personally think he says brethren instead of disciples, because this is an invitation to not just the twelve, but to all believers to meet him in Galilee. And that's what happens. That's what the Apostle Paul says in first Corinthians 15. I think it's verse six where he says he appeared to five hundred at one time. That was in Galilee. That's the Great Commission. We'll look at next time. So he says, don't be afraid, go take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee and there they will see me. And all these women do indeed attest to that. Their eyewitnesses, not just of the empty tomb, not just of the message from the angel, their eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ. Our hope and our confidence in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not built just on an empty tomb. Our hope on the. in a resurrected Christ is not just based upon the word of an angel, it is based upon eyewitness testimony that says we saw him. Notice when it says they fell at his feet and grabbed a hold of him, they had a hold of him and he really was physically, tangibly there. The Bible says the people that believed in Jesus became convinced of his resurrection, not just because they saw some circumstantial evidence of the empty tomb, etc., but tangible evidence of the resurrected Christ that they touched, that they heard, that they felt, their hands handled, and they saw and they knew was Him. The fact that they were, A, the hardest to convince, and B, willing to die for it, I think demonstrates very clearly the veracity and reliability of the account of all of these witnesses. That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, the text that we started with, says a lot of these people are still alive. Go ask them. Some of these people are asleep now. They've died and they're with the Lord now. But a lot of them are still alive. Just go ask them. They saw him. You don't invite people to go interview anybody that was there unless you're sure that testimony is going to be what? Universal. Somebody says, well, when I look at this account and what Jesus says here, he just kind of in a in a very simplistic way, says, don't be afraid. Go take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee. And there they will see me. The next thing you see is Jesus meets with his disciples in Galilee in verse 16. But all the other accounts talk about all these other, you know, post-resurrection experiences. Well, What are all of those if the next thing on the agenda is just meeting in Galilee? You know what the answer is? You go read all those other accounts. You know what you will see? Especially in Luke and John, you know what you will see? When the women go back and tell the disciples that they saw Jesus, they saw the empty tomb and they saw Jesus. Do you know what those disciples, those men of great faith, those stalwarts of the faith, those authors of scripture and proclaimers of the truth. You know what they do? They go, oh, you saw him. How cool is that? What did he say? We need to we need to celebrate. We need to worship. I should have realized that he's been telling us for for all the way to the to up to now. He's been telling us is going to happen. Thanks for letting us know you guys. Wow. What a privilege it must have been to see him. So they did. They heard him and they went, yeah, right. And they ran to the tomb to check for themselves. And what's so fascinating to me is you read John 20 and and Peter and John, the best of the apostles, they get to the tomb. John gets to the door and he stops. Peter, because he's Peter, runs. He can't run as fast as John. But when he gets there, he runs right by John and runs right straight down into the tomb. And he looks around and there's. Yep. He's not here. There's the grave clothes. Look, the face cloth is even folded over here by itself. And then they conclude, oh, look, he is risen. Let's celebrate. No, they walk out of that empty tomb wondering about all these things they've now seen and that the women have told them. They're daft like husbands. OK, that's that's what it is. Even even though your wife tells you, you've got to go check it for yourself. Because she's been wrong before, hasn't she? Can I get an amen? At least once? You know what? You know what it shows? It shows they're all human. You want to know why Jesus shows up later that evening for the apostles? Because they wouldn't take the word of the women. And He knew they wouldn't. Look at Luke 24. This is still my favorite resurrection account. Luke 24. The road to Emmaus account is cool. Now, don't get me wrong. Two disciples. They heard about the women and what they say they saw. But it's just women. You can't believe that. Right there. They're walking back. They're leaving town. And for a couple of hours, Jesus walks with them and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he begins to explain to them. This is what the Old Testament said the whole time was going to happen. When Christ comes, He's going to go to Jerusalem, He's going to die, He will rise again the third day, and then the message will be proclaimed to all the nations. And then all of a sudden they realize, were our hearts not burning when He was with us? That was the Lord! We've seen Him now! And they turn, and they run all the way back to Jerusalem. And when they get there, They get together with the apostles and this is Peter and James and John. Everybody but Thomas. This is all of those guys except for Thomas. Why isn't Thomas there? I still think it's because he didn't believe anybody. And he wasn't going to believe anybody. And, you know, and so he missed a prayer meeting. By the way, it's a good don't miss church. You might miss Christ. Thomas missed the prayer meeting. Oh, well, wait a week. Anyways, Luke 24, verse 36, while they, that is the guys that were on the road to Emmaus with Jesus, while they're telling these things to Peter and James and John and the rest, they're telling these things, Jesus himself stood in their midst and he said to them, peace be to you. And they were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit. I think you really should, for us, translate this a ghost. They thought they were seeing a ghost. This isn't really him. It's got to be Hollywood. It didn't make sense. Think about all the evidence that they have been given this very day. The empty tomb, the testimony of the women, the testimony of the two that were on the road to Emmaus. And they still couldn't believe. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still couldn't what believe. Even touching him, they had trouble believing it was him believing it was just too good to be true. Well, they still couldn't believe it because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, do you have anything to eat? You know, the Those portions that we served at the first Lord's Supper, you know, they were kind of small and those little tiny cups that we're drinking out of. And it's been days. I just need something to get me through, you know. Is that why he asked for something to eat? No. You know why I asked for something to eat? They've touched him and it still doesn't make sense. You guys have anything to eat? So he took a piece of they gave him a piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it before them so that they could see he is really risen. And they're in the flesh. really is him. They were the hardest people to convince. So when they all die to a man believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can count on it being genuine. You can count on it being real. When we come to next week. And when. The disciples, all the disciples meet at one time, about 500 of them in Galilee, and he gives the Great Commission. This is the risen Lord talking to people who now have become convinced He really has risen from the dead. Jesus has risen, this is sure. And you can base your eternity on this fact. And I remind you, without the doctrine of the resurrection, the whole of the gospel is vanity. It's meaningless. The last witness I bring out to you is very simple and very straightforward. It's verses 11 to 15. and it's the attempted cover-up. And frankly, it shouldn't surprise us that on the very day of the resurrection that Christ's enemies were attempting to deny it. Look at how committed they were to killing Him and to manipulating the whole judicial system in order to facilitate His execution, even though even Pilate proclaimed multiple times that he's innocent. Verse 11, while they were on their way, That is, while the women were on their way to tell the disciples, this is in the morning, about the resurrection, some of the guard had come into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. What's that mean? That means some of those guards that were there immediately went in and reported to the chief priests who had stationed them there, and they told them what had happened. When it says they told them what had happened, that means that they did indeed say, listen, an angel appeared, and the ground shook, and the stone was rolled away, and it was sitting there On the stone and and we fled I mean we could stand up to some disciples, but an angel that's on you guys So they went they reported what had happened And when they had assembled the elders and consulted together what that means is they went and reported the chief priests the highest-ranking Muckety-mucks the ones that they had to report to and those chief priests hearing this account You know what they did they gathered together all the rest of the Sanhedrin and they had another formal meeting And after they had consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. You know what that literally means in the Greek? They gave a bunch of silver. They paid them handsomely. And they said, you are to say his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. Now, why would they need that promise? Well, what is the consequence for dereliction of duty? Death. In fact, if you keep your finger in Matthew 28, turn to, I think it's Acts 12, if I remember correctly. Yes, Acts chapter 12 and verse 19. Do you remember when an angel busts Peter out of prison there in Jerusalem? Remember when an angel did that for Peter? Verse 19, when Herod searched for him and he couldn't find him, he examined the guards and then ordered that they be led away to execution. You let a prisoner escape, you fail on guard duty, and you pay for it with your life. So when the soldiers come back and report what happened, an angel showed up and opened the tomb, and the tomb was empty. When the religious leaders hear this. OK. We we got to we got to come up with something to explain this away. So they they posit this story. Now let me tell you what's really cool about this story as we look at verse 15. The soldier the guards they took the money they did as they had been instructed in this story was widely spread among the Jews as is to as it is to this day. or and is to this day. Why would Matthew even bother telling you about a false story? Doesn't the very presence of this false story suggest that there were people that didn't believe in the resurrection even when it happened? Yeah, but look at the account. Look at what it says. The guards say, we fell asleep and the disciples came and stole the body. First of all, with regard to the details, does that even make sense? Is that even believable? Where was the stone? It was laying out on the ground. I mean, do you think the guards that are on duty, even if they doze off, you think they're sleeping through that? What happens as soon as they hear that? They get up and they're going to contend with the disciples. Do you really think the disciples can take guards? And if they can, there's going to be a struggle, there's going to be conflict and there's going to be bloodshed, right? There isn't any of that. What's more, think about the story itself. You go tell everybody you fell asleep and the disciples came and stole the body. If they really did fall asleep and the disciples stole the body, what would the chief priests have done? Executed them. The fact that those guards were not executed and that they posited a story as unbelievable as we fell asleep and the disciples stole the body. What does that tell you? That is a desperate attempt to deny what can't be denied. Let me ask you a question. Did Jesus die on the cross? Yes. Was he really dead? Yes. It's certified by the Roman executioners and it's certified by the burial. Was he buried and laid in a tomb for three days? Yes. How do you know? Because not only do we have those who buried him to testify to that, not only do we have the guards who were stationed there to testify to that, in addition to that, we have the women who were watching as he was taken down and buried to testify to that. Did he rise again the third day? Yes. How do we know? We know, first of all, because the tomb was opened for inspection by God when he sent an angel to open it. Number two, we know by the empty tomb itself that demonstrates Jesus is not there. Number three, we have not only the eyewitness of the women who saw him in the flesh, but as the rest of the testimony of Scripture shows, Jesus appeared many times to many of His disciples, and at one point to as many as 500 people in one occasion. And they all saw Him, and they all touched Him, and they all were able to hold on to Him and see, yes, it really is Him in the flesh. And number four, the best explanation of the facts is still, well, that somebody must have stolen the body. Then how are people seeing Him? And why are those people that are seeing him, why are they willing to die for that truth? Is the doctrine of the resurrection a sure doctrine? Yes. And my eternity is built on the truthfulness of that doctrine. Father, thank you so much for your word, which gives us tangible proofs for all that it teaches. Thank you for the concrete testimony to not only the death of Christ, but also to his resurrection. Lord, thank you so much for being willing to come and lay your life down for us. Thank you for demonstrating that you have the authority, as you said in advance, to take it up again. And thanks for laying your life down for us. And thanks for taking it up again and promising to bring us to be with you and give us a new life as well. In Jesus' name and for his glory, I pray. And all God's people said, amen.