Well, as many of you know, that today is April Fool's Day, but what I have to say is certainly no joking matter. As we talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there's nothing to joke about, that there are many who don't want to entertain that reality. The Bible actually says in Psalm 14 and verse 1, it repeats it in Psalm 53 and verse 1, that the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. That's the real April Fool's joke. But again, it's not a joke, because there are many people that do not believe in the existence of God. This morning, we're gonna see that illustrated as we look at Matthew chapter 28, and if you will, please take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 28. This morning, I wanna look at verses four and verses 11 through 15. Verse 4 and verses 11 through 15. But for our understanding, and to help you with the context, I'm going to begin reading at verse 1. Matthew chapter 28. Now 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. And 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. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen just as he said. Come see the place where he was lying. Go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you.' And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to report it to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee. and there they will see me. Now, while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priest all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and 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. And they took the money and did as they had been instructed. And this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day." I titled the message this morning, Foolish Unbelief, because I want to narrow in on verse 4 and also verses 11 through 15. Verse 4 and verses 11 through 15 give us the account of the guards' reaction when the angel descended from heaven, and an earthquake occurred, and they rolled the stone away and sat upon it, it tells us the reaction of the guards. But it doesn't just tell us their reaction there, which was a truthful reaction, by the way. It also tells us about the lie to cover up the resurrection, beginning at verses 11 and taking it down to verse 15. But you know, as you and I think about this, to deny truth is really the height of foolishness. In fact, it's dangerous, especially when denying the truth will cost you your life. But many choose this path. Jesus said in Matthew 7, 13, Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Notice that those who are on the broad road that leads to destruction are many. And those that enter through the narrow gate that leads to life are few. And it's always been that way. It's always been a remnant that truly know the Lord Jesus Christ and truly belong to Him. It's not by coincidence, and it's not by accident. And yet, when we think of a remnant, and we think of many, we may think within the context of what we can comprehend and what we can understand, but this is a lot of people. A lot of people going to hell, and there's a lot of people going to heaven, but not as many going to heaven as we think, or as many proclaim to think. There are a lot of people talking about heaven, but are not going to heaven. John Owen said that the entrance to hell is through the portals of heaven. There are a lot of people that go to church, there are a lot of people that talk about the Bible or talk about God. You even have sports figures that get on TV and they want to thank God for something that has happened in their life and praise God that they want to do this, but if they don't know Him, it's just empty words coming from empty hearts. The characters in our story were part of the many who have entered the broad road that leads to destruction. They are those who have denied the truth about Jesus Christ. And you know, there are some things in Scripture that are non-negotiable, and this is one of them. The resurrection is non-negotiable. No resurrection, no eternal life. No resurrection, no heaven. No resurrection, no Jesus. He'd still be on the cross. But they just didn't deny what had happened. They denied the reality of what they had witnessed as if it didn't happen at all. So much so that they willingly took money to hide it. They played the satanic lie of denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you are a fool if you deny the supernatural. You're a fool if you deny the resurrection. And you're even a bigger fool to believe someone else's lie when it goes against what you know is the truth. Jesus died and they didn't deny that. They saw it. They witnessed it. They were part of yelling, crucify him. But he arose on the third day and that's what they denied. So the fool has said in his heart, no God. And they're not the first to do that. People have been denying the supernatural since the beginning of the fall. Since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3. This past Wednesday, I don't know if you caught this, but there was an article on Fox News stating that the Pope believes that there is no hell. I guess that reality of his belief will soon change unless he repents. There is a hell whether you believe it or not. There's a heaven whether you believe it or not. There's a person who came and died on a cross named Jesus whether you believe it or not. Because this Bible says it. This book says it. In an article dated April 9th, 2017 titled, Resurrection Did Not Happen Says Quarter of Christians, the BBC in Great Britain had surveyed over 2,000 adults by phone. They did it in a period from February 2nd to the 12th. They discovered that a quarter of people who describe themselves as Christians in Great Britain do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. However, almost 1 in 10 people of no religion say they do believe the Easter story, but it has some content that they should not be taken literally. A fifth of non-religious people believe in life after death, the polls suggest. A survey had suggested that 17% of all people believe the Bible version word for word. That, of course, would account for the next figure. 31% of Christians believe word for word the Bible version, rising to 57% among active Christians, those who go to a religious service at least once a month. Exactly half of all people surveyed, remember that was 2,000 people surveyed, exactly half of them did not believe in the resurrection at all. 46% of people say that they believe in some form of afterlife and death, and 46% do not. 20% of non-religious people say that they believe in some form of life after death, but get this, 9% of non-religious people believe in the resurrection, 1% of whom they say that they believe, that they're Christians. 1%. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 12. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there's no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. Your faith also is in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead do not raise. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. Because we've been believing a lie. Corbin Croy, in an article dated April 30th, 2018, just a couple days ago, article says, five reasons I do not believe in the physical resurrection of Christ. Here's how he begins the article. One of the reasons most Christians find it hard to believe that I'm a Christian myself is because I do not affirm the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen. I find it hard to believe that you're a Christian, too, if you do not affirm the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Can we be a Christian and deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well, let me read to you Romans 10, 9, and you answer the question. That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be, say it, saved. So what's the answer? The answer is no. You can't be saved if you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have to believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and when you do that, it says you will be saved. See, it's through the resurrection of Jesus that we are saved. No resurrection, as I said, no Jesus, no gospel. Peter said it this way in 1 Peter 1, 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Sounds like to me that it's all connected, it's all the gospel, it's all part of it. In fact, Charles Spurgeon said this, the cross of Christ is powerless to save without the empty tomb. The Savior's triumph over death is the foundation on which the saving cross rests. Steve Lawson, writing on Spurgeon, said he asserted that the resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of Christian doctrine and the keystone of the arch of Christianity. Without it, he said, the whole fabric of the gospel would fall to the ground. For Spurgeon, the resurrection of Christ is essential to gospel proclamation. There is no gospel apart from the risen Christ. See, it's through the resurrection that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God. Paul said this, Romans 1-3, concerning his son who was born of a descendant of David, according to the flesh, he was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord. So again, it's the fool who says no to these things. Paul even said in Titus 3.3 that we ourselves were once foolish. We were right in that same category of foolish unbelief before God saved us. And so you're a fool if you refuse to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. And it's only fools who blaspheme God and who mock at sin. Proverbs 1.7 says, The fool despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 18.2 says, The fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind. Proverbs 10.21 says, The fool dies for lack of wisdom. And believers are not to walk in that folly. We are told in Ephesians 5.15 to walk carefully, not as unwise or as foolish, but as wise. Now what about the guards? What about these men in Matthew 28 and verse 4? They were fools. And they rested in their foolish unbelief. In fact, we could go on to say, according to Proverbs 10.18, that they were liars and slanderers. Because Proverbs 10.18 says, whoever conceals hatred has lying lips, and he who spreads slander is a fool. So no April Fool's jokes here. This is serious business. This is not a joking matter. To talk about life and death issues, to talk about where you're gonna spend eternity, heaven or hell. And if you say that hell doesn't exist, as the Pope says, then you kind of wipe that out and give yourself some security. That's more dangerous than anything. As we look at the Gospels, we look at Matthew 28 in particular, let me just say that all four Gospels give the account of the resurrection of Jesus. Matthew records it here in chapter 28, Mark records it in chapter 16, Luke records it in chapter 24 that we read, and then John records it in chapter 20. Now, if you go to Matthew 28, if you're still there, verse 1 gives us the setting. It was after the Sabbath. It began to dawn. It was the first day of the week. This is Sunday. It was real early in the morning. This is why churches have sunrise services. to commemorate the resurrection. The cast of characters we find in verses 2 through 4, you have Mary Magdalene in verse 1, you have the other Mary in verse 1. You also have the angel of the Lord in verses 2 and 3, and then you have the guards in verse 4. Now all the gospel accounts include one or more women at the tomb. Matthew records that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. But Matthew and John, they tell us that the other Mary was the mother of James and Joseph and the wife of Clopas. And although Matthew and Mark and Luke tell us Salome, the mother of James and John and the wife of Zebedee and Joanna were also there, but Mary focuses only on the two Marys. John's account tells us about Mary Magdalene and not the other women. So you have a few people there that came to the tomb. In fact, they came to the tomb expecting to see a body. They were foolish as well. The disciples were also foolish. They didn't believe Jesus' final words to them. He talked about how the Son of Man had to suffer, but in three days He would rise again. And they didn't believe it. Again, the women came to the tomb, they came with some spices, they came to anoint the body. In fact, they were discussing among themselves who's going to roll the stone away. They saw where Jesus had been buried. They saw where Joseph of Arimathea put the body of Jesus. But again, who was going to roll back the stone? That's when we're introduced to the angel of the Lord. In verses 2 and 3, all the gospel writers write about the appearance of the angels. Matthew and Mark state that there was only one angel at the tomb, but if you read Luke and John, it says that there were two. There were two angels. All accounts record the same message. What's the message? He is not here. He has risen. And when you see accounts or pictures of Jesus walking out of a tomb, that is an unbiblical image. The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out. The stone was rolled away to let the people in, to see that He wasn't there. He didn't need the stone rolled away to keep Him in or keep Him from going out. He's God. He went through the wall. We know He could do that because as Luke 24 we read, Jesus appears. He just appears to the disciples as they're in a room closed up. He appears. Now verse 4 mentions the guards. We're not sure how many there were. The term guards is in the plural, certainly indicating more than one. One guard made the tomb secure according to chapter 27. In verse 65 it says, Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go make it as secure as you know how. And they went and made the grave secure along with the guard. They set a seal on the stone. A.T. Robinson says that the method of sealing the stone at Jesus' tomb was probably by a cord stretched across the stone and sealed at each end, as Daniel 6.17 refers. The sealing was done in the presence of the Roman authority and power. They did their best to prevent theft and the resurrection, but they overreached themselves and provided additional witness to the fact of the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus. Henry Sumner Maine, member of the Supreme Council in India, formerly Reader on Jurisprudence and the Civil Law at the Middle Temple, and Regis Professor of the Civil Law in the University of Cambridge, speaks of the legal authority attached to the Roman seal. He points out that it was actually considered as a mode of authentication. In the area of jurisprudence, Maine continues, we may observe that the seals of Roman wills and other documents of importance did not only serve as the index of the presence or assent of the signatory, but were also literally fastenings which had to be broken before the writing could be inspected. Josh McDowell says, considering in like manner the securing of Jesus' tomb, the Roman seal affixed thereon was meant to prevent any attempted vandalizing of the sepulcher. Anyone trying to move the stone from the tomb's entrance would have had to break the seal and thus incurred the wrath of Roman law. Professor D.D. Weldon says, the door could not be opened, therefore without breaking the seal, which was a crime against the authority of the proprietor of the tomb, or the seal. So they did their best to make sure that that stone was not rolled away without Roman authority knowing it. And to make sure that the disciples could not come in and steal the body, and go around and purport about the resurrection. But if you remember at that moment when Jesus was arrested, where was His disciples? They scattered. They feared for their lives. John and Peter went at a distance as they followed what was taking place as this trial took place in the middle of the night, which was against Jewish law. Peter standing outside warming his hands by the fire is told by one of the persons standing there, too, that you're one of them. Peter was already told that he would deny the Lord three times, and as he's standing there warming his hands, and the little girl says, you're one of them, he says, I do not know what you're talking about. I do not know the man. And she said, your speech gives you away. Does your speech give you away that you're a Christian? Do you tell people that you're a Christian? Do you talk about the Lord Jesus Christ? Or do you sound like the world? If you sound like the world, you're in the danger of being of the world and not of Christ. So he's warming his hands there, and two other times he denies, and the rooster crows. And he goes out and weeps bitterly. That's a much different response than what Judas had. Judas went out and hung himself. Peter goes out and weeps bitterly. Well, I want to back up at verse 2, and I want you to notice the discovery at the tomb. It says, and behold, a severe earthquake had occurred. This is actually the second earthquake that was associated with Christ's death. The first one occurred in Matthew 27, 51, when the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, the rocks were split, This one may have been confined to that immediate area around the grave when an angel had supernaturally rolled back the stone from the door. Again, not to let Jesus out, for if he could rise from the dead, he would need no help escaping an earthly tomb. But again, to let the women and the apostles in. It tells us in verse 2, an angel descended from heaven, he rolled away the stone, he sat upon it, his appearance was like lightning, his clothing was as white as snow. This actually reminds us of the transfiguration of Jesus. The lightning in the picture here is the supernatural brilliance and the snow was like the purity of heaven. Could you just imagine this scene? Because when you come to verse 4, literally it says the guards passed out. And before you laugh at them, if you'd have been standing their guard, and all of a sudden you hear this earthquake happen, this stone is rolled away by an angel, or angels, and they sit there, it's almost kind of like one of those movies that you see something like that happens, and then they go, hello, and you pass out. They shook for fear. They became like dead men. The word shook comes from the same root where we get the word earthquake. So they had their own little personal earthquakes. Their own personal tremors had occurred. And they were paralyzed with fear, which means they were completely unconscious. Matthew says that they became like dead men, totally traumatized by what they had seen. Linsky says God not only thwarted the effort of His enemies, He even turned their means for overcoming the truth into means for abiding or aiding the victory of the truth. Christ's resurrection is just as terrible for His foes as it is comforting for His friends. The Jews guarded the tomb only against molestation on the part of the disciples and their stealing the body. They forgot to guard it against Jesus Himself. Maybe they should have secured Him in the tomb. But they didn't believe He was going to rise anyway. Verse 5, we see the message from the angels. It carries down to verse 7. And what's the message? Jesus is not here. He has risen just as He said. 100% to His Word. If He didn't rise, He'd have been a liar. And you know, if He could lie, then He wouldn't be God. And if He's not God, and He says that He is, but Scripture says that He is, He says He's the I Am, then guess what? Then we just need to go home and eat and drink and be merry, because tomorrow we perish. There'd be no hope. Jesus is our hope. And they say in verse 6, Come, see the place where He was lying. Come right in. Come in. Look at the place. Look at the garments. Handle it. Touch it. See it. Touch it. Believe. Here He was adding substance to their sight, substance to their faith. They didn't have a blind faith going on here. And then they say in verse 7, Go quickly and tell His disciples, He's risen from the dead and He'll meet you in Galilee. So verse 8 tells us they left the tomb, they ran to report it to His disciples, but verse 9 says, On the way, guess who they meet? They meet Jesus. Verse 9, Behold, Jesus met them and greeted them, and they came up and took hold of his feet, and they worshiped him. Best response ever to the risen Lord is to worship him. In verse 10, he tells them that he is leaving for Galilee. They'll see him there. Now, verses 11 through 15, it goes right back to the guards. And this is what I call the lie that proves the resurrection. Because they reported in verse 11 to the chief priest what had happened. Some of them came who had witnessed this. Now, this is what is most interesting, because in verse 4, they witnessed this supernatural event. Verse 11, they report it to the chief priest. Verse 12, they deny it. Verse 12, they have been bought off. They bought into the lie, they had been bribed and they took it but spent a large sum of money because they're used to taking money just from prisoners, stealing things from other people. Here, they were aided by the leadership to have this and to even have their backs covered. They're told what to say. Verse 13, you are to say His disciples came by night, stole Him away while we were asleep. Now, there's a big problem right there, because if you were sleeping on guard duty, that meant your head. If a prisoner got away, that meant you lost your head, literally. Just like if you were a keeper in the jail in Acts chapter 16, when that earthquake happened and all the doors came open and all the chains fell off, The jailer thought the prisoners had escaped. He pulled out a sword and he was about to kill himself. And Paul calls out to him, we're all here. Do yourself no harm. This was a serious thing. And so it had to be convincing coming from the leadership for them to escape the reality of what had happened. This again is what I call foolish unbelief. They knew the truth, but they were paid to lie about it. And again, the fool says in his heart, no God. They discount the angelic vision and they're counting on a lie that never happened. You know, Jesus appeared to many people after His resurrection. John 20 records He appeared to Mary Magdalene. Matthew 28, to the women returning from the tomb, we just read. Luke 24, 34, He appeared to Peter later in the day. We read in Luke 24 how he appeared to the two disciples who were traveling to Emmaus. John 20, 19, he appeared to the apostles without Thomas, and then John 20, 26, he appeared to the apostles again with Thomas present. John 21, he appeared to seven of the 11 disciples by the lake of Tiberias. 1 Corinthians 15, 6 says he appeared to over 500 brethren at one time. 1 Corinthians 15, 7 says He appeared to James. Matthew 28, 16, He appeared to the 11. Acts 1, He appeared at His ascension. Acts 9, He appeared to Paul. Acts 7, He appeared to Stephen. Revelation 1, He appeared to John on the island of Patmos. James Montgomery says this, Note that when the disciples of Jesus proclaimed the resurrection, they did so as eyewitnesses. And they did so while people were still alive who had had contact with the events they spoke of. In 56 AD, Paul wrote that over 500 people had seen the risen Jesus and that most of them were still alive. It passes the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus. See, the evidence is right here. Jesus did rise from the grave on the third day as he said, and to say otherwise is a lie. And if I could say this to you this morning, don't be like the foolish guards who in their foolish unbelief refuse the truth and believe the lie all for money. The only way to heaven is by what Paul said in Romans 10. If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him. For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. You have to believe in your heart, God raised Him from the dead. You have to confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. And you have to call upon Him. You do that, and the Bible says that He will save you. You do have to believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ to be saved. You cannot be, quote, a Christian and not believe in the resurrection. That's an oxymoron. And you're a moron if you're doing that. But I pray this morning that God the Holy Spirit would take captive your heart if you're one here today who has not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And today would be the day of salvation. Today on this resurrection morning, this Easter morning, you would come to have eternal life. I was thinking about this earlier, actually in the night when I woke up about two in the morning. And I was thinking about the fact that in my family, we have a large family, seven kids. In my family, because we have lived with farm animals for 20 plus years, that they have known nothing but life and death. I remember the first time with my oldest daughter burying a turtle. The first experience of death. I felt like Bill Cosby standing over the toilet as they buried the little pet bird or whatever it was in the show. But this was a reality that they needed to understand because the Bible says the wages of sin is death. Everything dies because of sin. You wanna know where death and disease come from? Read Genesis chapter three. It comes from the fall of Adam and Eve. But today represents life. As we talk about the resurrection of Jesus, what are we talking about? Life. And I remember some 30 years ago when I surrendered my life to Jesus, I experienced life for the first time. God had opened my eyes. Bible says in Acts 16 that he opened up the heart of Lydia to believe the things that were spoken of by Paul. If God has opened up your heart this morning to believe, then come to him. Jesus, we thank you so much for this morning and for this resurrection morning as we meditate on these truths about our Savior. to think, Lord God, what you did in sending Jesus to die in our place for our sins, the cruel death that he experienced. All for us, he bore our iniquity. He was despised, he was rejected, and yet we esteemed him stricken by God. We thought that he was being punished by God as he was on the cross, but on the cross he was bearing our iniquity, bearing our sin. And if we're not willing to turn to Christ, then there's nowhere else to turn, because He alone is the one who forgives sin. He is alone the one who saves. And so, Heavenly Father, I pray this morning that if You opened up the heart of someone this morning to believe these things, that You're saving them this morning, that they would make it known that they've called upon You. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.