Please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. We have just a few verses left, one chapter left as we conclude our study in Matthew's gospel. And we are providentially looking at the resurrection on this Lord's day. We will look at verses one through 10 of Matthew chapter 28. This is the word of God. 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 sepulcher. 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. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, fear not, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. "'Come, see the place where the Lord lay, "'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.' "'And they departed quickly from the sepulcher "'with fear and great joy, "'and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail. They came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Then said Jesus unto them, be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there they shall see me. May the Lord bless the reading of his Holy Word, let us pray together. Oh Lord, our God, we assemble in this hour to praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also to hear him speak unto us through thy word. Lord, will thou open our hearts that we may understand the truth of thy word this day, and that we may rejoice in what Christ has done for our souls, not only upon the cross of Calvary, but in having emerged from the tomb of death into glorious life. We ask, O Lord, that these things may cheer our hearts this day as we look unto Thee. We ask, Lord, that Thou has blessed the preaching of Thy word and give unto us good things, we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus, amen. Beloved congregation, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ does give great courage and confidence to his people. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the reason that we meet on the first day of the week. In Reformed churches especially, every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday. Every Sunday is a reminder that Christ is victorious over the grave, over sin and death. And we meet once a month to celebrate his death. We meet every week to ground our hope in his resurrection and to look for our own resurrection. We want to look at this theme, which we hope is not going to weary us through repetition, but always we ought to be truly excited and revived in heart as we consider the wonderful victory that Christ has made over death. So we want to consider the text before us and begin just by following the words of the text this morning. We want to start with the appearance, is my first point, the appearance of the angel. So here are the women, Mary and Mary, and John indicates that there are other women as well. There may be quite a number. And they have come to anoint the body, the dead body of the Lord Jesus with spices. That's their intent. They have forgotten all of Christ's own prophecies regarding his resurrection. The disciples have forgotten, even the women have forgotten. And so they're coming to the garden expecting to find a sealed tomb. They're wondering how they're going to have access to the body. How are we going to get in? Who's going to roll away that stone? And as they approach then, there is a great earthquake and the angel descends from heaven, verse two. And so this is, of course, very significant. An earthquake is always very significant. I don't know about the rest of you. I've never been present when the earth beneath me starts to shake. And I've heard stories and I've had people who have experienced that talk about things falling off the walls, off the shelves. It would be very, very traumatic. And here, the earth shook as a sign of God's intervention in the history of the world. So this is a very significant divine event. The angel descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door and then he sat upon it. So notice that he rolled back the stone. We have no account in the gospels of the actual resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Isn't that interesting? We don't actually have any of the details of what happened when Jesus rose from the dead. We know later on that when he appears to the disciples, he just appears in the room, in a door that was closed. He may have done the same thing, just passed through the stone. He may have been rolled away and rolled back. We don't know any of the details. But here, the angel descended and rolled back the stone, not to release Jesus, He wasn't there anymore. The angel rolled back the stone, he sat upon it, he's waiting for these ladies to come because he wants to show them the empty tomb. Peter and John come later on as well. He's going to show them this glorious good news, the tomb is empty. There's no one here. And of course the ladies are shocked. They have their spices with which to anoint the body and they're grieved, John says, that there is no body. What have they done with him? They actually become very, very anxious. They've taken away the body of the Lord and they've placed him somewhere and we don't know. We don't know where he is. And so they're quite concerned and anxious. over what's happening. And then we're given a description of the angel. In verse three, his countenance was like lightning. So the idea there is that it was very bright. His raiment was white as snow. And interesting that we have read earlier in Revelation chapter three, Elder Tzu read about at least two places where that's the promise to those that overcome. That they'll be clothed in white raiment. Here's the angel that has raiment white as snow. Very reflective of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ with which the saints are clothed. So here is a very dramatic bright white clothing upon the angel. His presence created fear, verse four, and for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men. So we don't know what happened to those soldiers, the keepers of the tomb. What they saw, maybe they didn't see anything. Maybe they were just rendered unconscious by everything that was going on. But we have also no idea of the response that they had personally to these events. And then the angel speaks, he makes his announcement, the second point, we have the appearance of the angel and then the announcement by the angel, the second point, a announcement. He says, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. Here's the one who was dead, I know that you're seeking Jesus, here's the good news, he is not here. There's a gentle rebuke here. He is not here for he is risen as he said. So there's something here that where the angel says you should have listened to the words of Jesus. You should have taken them seriously. Your heart now should be filled with the expectation of an empty tomb. But he doesn't rebuke them openly or directly. He really overall gives them this word of encouragement. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. So he's done what he promised to do and gives them this excellent good news. So this is a great encouragement to the women, speaks to their doubts and their questions. Beloved, the, Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ should be a great encouragement to you in any day, but especially in days when you may be fearful. The circumstances that we find ourselves upon this day in the beginning of 2020 are the cause of fear in many people. They're anxious. They don't know what to do. Interestingly, I think we see people who are anxious or fearful that you are not anxious or fearful. Have you encountered that? Why are you not more anxious? Aren't you concerned? Aren't you worried? Aren't you fearful of what could happen? Of course, we have no idea what is going to happen. We have no idea how this is going to fall out, right? lead to greater rebellion against the Lord in the big picture. It could lead to revival. The Lord could use this to revive the hearts of many people. We know that people are thinking more about their lives, about their relationships, hopefully about eternity, where people ought to be thinking, this disease could grip me. I could succumb. to this COVID-19, I could find myself dying. Am I ready to die? That's really the question. Am I ready to die? That's the question that people should be asking. Of course, everybody wants to prevent their death. They want to avoid death. That's a good thing. It's a very natural thing. We don't run towards death, but we accept death because of Christ's resurrection. So this is the encouragement that the Lord has for his people. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Further, he says, come, see the place where the Lord lay. So here's the evidence. Come into the tomb, see that it's empty. Search around. There is more evidence for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ than there is for many of the events of history. It is well attested. And the fact that that tomb is empty is marvelous. And often people reflect upon this, don't they, that the tombs of the leaders of the various religions of the world are filled with bones. Only Christianity has an empty tomb. Only in Christianity we have someone who has conquered death, even God himself, the Lord Jesus. So then by way of further encouragement, the angel gives instruction to the women, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. Spread the good news. They need to know. Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him. Lo, I have told you. And so there is the good news that is instructed to be spread through all the world, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The women obey immediately. They departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, verse eight. And isn't that a confusing or an unexpected emotions that are put together, fear and great joy. So there's a trembling at what's happened. We often are fearful when we're uncertain. Isn't that true? Fear comes upon you when you're uncertain how something's going to turn out. You may hear the pronouncement from the doctor, you have cancer. What type of cancer? Is it treatable? Is it untreatable? Does it advance quickly? Does it advance slowly? How long do I have to live? That's often the first question that comes into the mind. How long do I have to live? It's the uncertainty that creates fear. And yet, even in those times, isn't it our duty, really, to trust in the Lord and to say, I am uncertain. God is not. He's already ordained how this thing will end, how this situation will conclude. So there are those two emotions, fear and great joy. We read of that last week, not last year, but last week in Psalm 2, verse 11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. rejoice with trembling. Notice that this is significantly different than the fear of the keepers. They saw the angel, and they felt the earthquake, and they were filled with great fear. It was not believing fear. It was terrifying fear. The fear of the Christian is the fear that stands in awe of his magnificence. Beloved, do you fear the Lord in his power and in his majesty? If you've ever stood maybe at a dam or at Niagara Falls, the great power of the water rushing over, the edge of that cliff that creates a waterfall. There is fear there. There is thankfulness for barriers that you don't get too close. And there's a fear of the power there, of the majesty, and it's an awesome fear. It has an attraction to it. You want to know something about this, and you feel it. You feel, even as you stand by the falls or by the dam, you feel things shaking and trembling. You feel that great power. That's just a small picture of the great power of our God beloved. to stand in that fear and an awesomeness. It will be a fearful day in that sense when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. There's going to be power and great glory. There's going to be glory such as you could not possibly imagine in this life. But if you're found in Christ, beloved, you're going to behold that glory. You're going to behold his great power, power over all the nations, power over all the events of the world, power over your own soul, power over everything. He's going to manifest. It's a day of power and great glory. And we will see that differently, beloved. Everyone who is in Christ is going to behold that power differently than the unbelievers that are going to want to flee. Let the mountains fall upon us. Let the rocks cover us. Because we don't want to face the wrath of, what? The wrath of the Lamb. There's another contradiction in our minds. The wrath of the Lamb. because that lamb has become the judge of all the earth. And so here are the women that express something of our own emotions. They departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word. So then thirdly, we have an affirmation, and that affirmation comes at the mouth of Jesus. As they go, Jesus meets them and greets them, hail, all hail. And the word here is just a greeting, like in the Hebrew, we have shalom. Shalom can be used as a greeting and as a, when you say hello or when you say goodbye, you can say shalom either way, or I think in Hawaii, aloha works the same way when you're coming or going. This word is similar, all hail, it's a greeting, hello, greetings. And he greets them and appears to the women. We have that in the other gospel accounts as well, that the Lord now honors the women by appearing to them first. And women were not held in very high esteem in the society of that day, but the Lord honors. these women and brings them to this place of prominence in his life. During his life on the earth, they're often faithful servants of the Lord Jesus and his earthly needs. And here they're rewarded, shall we say, in a certain sense by being the first eyewitnesses of the resurrected Lord. What an honor and a privilege that would be indeed. They were then the messengers to tell the disciples. Notice in this passage how often the Lord uses messengers. So here's the day of resurrection and Jesus isn't immediately there in the garden tomb, is he? John says that the women mistaken for the gardener, he is somewhere in the presence there, but immediately the news comes from an angel to tell the ladies. Then the women come to tell the disciples. So the Lord uses messengers. The Lord uses messengers. And regardless of how the gospel comes to your heart, beloved, You ought to be grateful to God for the messenger that he sent to bring you that good news, to bring you the gospel. Now, often we hear stories of Christ's immediate revelation. Oh, Jesus appeared to me, came, stood at the foot of my bed, told me about himself. Now, that sounds very, very impressive. It's not the way God ordinarily works. It's not the way in which he works in these days. He works through messengers, and he works through lowly messengers. He works through simple people. How many of you, perhaps, heard the gospel from your mother? Is there a more demeaning occupation today in our society? You know, if you're staying at home and taking care of your children, that's not godly, it's not responsible, whatever. But how precious it was to just receive the gospel at the hand of your mother. For many of you, that's the case. What a glorious ministry mothers have to their own children. In many ways, we would say even more than the fathers. And here are the mothers who come and just share the gospel, show the reality of the gospel, lead their children in prayer. It's very delightful. And so many, many Christians are very grateful to their mothers who brought them the gospel consistently, joyfully, peacefully, and led us according to the word of God. Well, the women did worship the Lord Jesus. Wherever they met him in the way, they went down, they grabbed his feet. And Jesus says, again, as the angel said, be not afraid. So here is the, why would you have that instruction if you're not afraid? Clearly, they are afraid. They're trembling. They're terrified at what's happened. They're filled with wonder. What can all of this mean? And so immediately the Lord Jesus says, be not afraid. Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. Here's the message. First of all, don't be afraid. When we think of Jesus, we often think of him as gentle, gracious, merciful, kind, benevolent. But he is a God who is righteous as well. Christ is, in every way, as righteous as God the Father. And did not Christ have every right, we would say at this point, to rebuke them and say, oh ye of little faith? He did that often to the disciples, didn't he? Oh ye of little faith. What did you expect? This is exactly what you should have been expecting, but he doesn't do that. It just comes to them even in their skepticism and unbelief, and they're trying to put everything together. These women have no idea really of the significance of what they're witnessing. It's all going to be coming to them in the days to come. So he doesn't give them a great theological lecture. He only gives them a kind and gentle admonition to be peaceful. Be not afraid. Just calm your heart. And it's a wonderful thing to hear Christ say that over and over again, be not afraid. We talked about that some time ago as well. And Isaiah, often it comes up, fear not, fear not. It's a beautiful admonition. So he comforts them, and also then he gives them this instruction as well. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. So it's not go tell my disciples, it's tell my brethren. It's a term of endearment. It's a term in which Christ speaks with affection to his disciples, his disciples who have all fled, his disciples who probably weren't there at the crucifixion. His disciples who are gathered in a room somewhere wondering what all of this means. Hebrews 2 verse 11 reminds us that Christ is not ashamed to call us brother. For all of our weaknesses, for all of our failures, Christ is not ashamed to call his people brothers and sisters in him. because he's brought them into his family. Matthew 12, when the disciples come and tell Jesus he's in a crowded room, everything is overwhelming him physically, and someone says, your mother and your brothers are outside waiting for you. And Jesus says, he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brother. For whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother. So here's the Lord speaking peace and the gospel to these disciples. These are my disciples, even in their their lack of faith, even in their uncertainty of the things that are happening around them, by faith, these are my disciples, these are my brothers, these are my mother, my near relations, whoever does the will of my father. And that will is expressed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved. So the disciples did Christ's will, although they did not do it perfectly. So beloved, do not despair. Are you looking to the Lord Jesus Christ in these days? Are you considering his resurrection? Is this a matter of firm belief in your heart that Christ rose from the tomb? He rose from the tomb in a particular day of history. And the effects of that rising continue till today. And they guarantee the resurrection, beloved, of everyone who believes in him. So the resurrection then becomes extremely personal. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you believe that he was raised from the dead, if you believe that God the Father raised him from the dead, then you have the hope of that resurrection as well. And that brings us to the final A, And the outline here is adoration. And that's what the women do, they hold on to his feet. They bow down and they worship him. So not just, remember in John, I think it records Jesus as telling Mary, don't touch me. And the word there is don't hang on to me, don't cling to me. And what he's saying is, this is more than just a warm friendship. in the same way that we may be giving a lot of people hugs after all of this is over again, and embracing one another, and shaking hands, and all of these things that we're so accustomed to doing. Jesus was telling Mary, don't, this is not about a physical relationship, but here they bowed down, they laid hold of his feet, and what does it say? They worshipped him, very significant, they worshipped him. They adored Him as their Savior, as their Lord. They were glad to see Him alive, even though surely they didn't understand all of the implications, everything that the resurrection meant. But beloved, neither do you, do you. Every, at least once a year, we talk about the resurrection much more often than that. We should be speaking of it regularly. still don't understand and comprehend everything that's involved in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. How he was raised and why he was raised, all of these things just have more and more meaning continually. There's so much to appreciate about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved. but we do understand something of the significance, and even that significance is multiplied to you as you meditate upon God's word. I want to mention just a couple of these things. The first is that wonderful doctrine that we all love and embrace, the doctrine of justification. Romans 4.25 says that he was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. So here's the glorious liberty, beloved, that the Lord Jesus gives unto us, raised again for our justification, directly related to the raising again of the Lord Jesus. So the consideration, beloved, are you justified? You're justified through the resurrection. If the resurrection hadn't taken place, you could not possibly have peace with God. Guarantees your peace with God. You're being declared righteous for Christ's sake. And then, beloved, it gives us hope, and we do need hope in these days particularly. 1 Peter 1 verse 3, the Apostle Peter writes, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again, has regenerated us, given us new birth, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So there's a living hope, a lively hope, a hope that's active. So, beloved, when you despair, when you begin to be uncertain about the times, uncertain about the days, uncertain about your future, the uncertainty really arises out of your lack of hope, doesn't it? So your hope must continually be renewed, and that hope is going to be present by virtue of your understanding of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the world despises the fact that you will respond to the events of your life, the events of the world, by becoming spiritual. And we do see an awful lot of mocking of that. And Satan will mock you, and sometimes your old man, your old nature will mock you and say, you think by reading your Bible, You're going to understand what's happening to you in your life. Do you think by praying and trusting in the Lord Jesus that your life is going to be, everything's going to be put in place? And that's exactly what it means to walk and to live by faith, doesn't it? It means that we need to open our Bibles now more than ever before. that we need to claim the promises of God now more than ever before. Because according to his abundant mercy, he has begotten us again unto a living hope, a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So this is what puts things in perspective. Did Jesus rise from the dead? Well, why? Doesn't that raise a million questions? Did he die? How did he die? Why did he die? Is he the son of God? Was it necessary for him to die? Yeah. Yeah, it was not only necessary by the decree of God from before the foundation of the world, but it was necessary because of my sin. For my sin crucified the Lord Jesus. My sin required his death. If he didn't die, I don't have any hope of eternal life. I'm still in my sins. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if he was not raised from the dead, you're still in your sins. We are of all men most miserable. What hope do you have? You have no hope if Jesus is still in the grave. The bones of Jesus are lying in a tomb. We might as well just disband and go home. We have no hope. There's no reason for us gathering together. But there is hope, beloved. because our Savior is seated at the right hand of the Father. He's interceding for us. He's praying for us as a congregation. He's praying for each of his people individually, and he knows them by name. He prays for you by name. He prays for your circumstances. He prays for the saints as they gather every Lord's Day, and prays for the particular needs of your soul, your individual temptations, your various weaknesses. And he's the high priest that's praying for you because he's not dead, he's alive, he's living. And he's given us that hope, that hope of eternal life. Brethren, let us lay hold on that hope actively. in these days, and let us have our faith increase. Seek the Lord to increase your faith. If you don't understand how these things are solved, pray, Lord, increase my faith. I know that these things are supposed to be true. I'm still anxious, or I'm still frustrated, or I'm still uncertain, I'm still fearful. Lord, remove my fear. You've instructed me not to be fearful. Deliver me from fear and give me the hope of the gospel. Let us pray. Gracious God, we come unto Thee because Thou art gracious, and because Thou hast bidden us seek Thy face. Deliver us, Lord, from fear and from anxiety. We pray once again that Thou wouldst make us a faithful and true witness to Thy saving grace. We pray, Lord, that Thou wouldst deliver us from every fear, that Thou wouldst establish us in Thy righteousness and Thy holiness and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that we may know the presence of Thy Holy Spirit. We pray that thou fill us with longing for thy word, longing for the return of our Christian fellowship, and a great desire to be sanctified by the means of grace which thou hast granted unto us. Lord, hear our prayer this day. Fill us with thy peace, we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.