Rejoicing And Resistance: Jesus is Risen - The Message of the Resurrec

[0:00] Chapter 27, page 834 in our Visitor's Bibles. A story of rejoicing and rejection.

[0:14] I hate to tell you this, but Christmas is coming. 85 shopping days, I heard on the radio yesterday. Seems to get earlier every year, doesn't it? I went to Costco in the middle of July to look at buying a barbecue and was told they were all gone because the Christmas stock was in.

[0:31] And the shops are gearing up, aren't they, for the annual bonanza of mammon worship. And soon those CDs will be wafting, the sentimental Christmas music everywhere, and we'll all be thoroughly sick of it.

[0:44] The season of peace and goodwill will be with us in force. As I was thinking about that this week, it struck me that the one time of the year when the vast majority of people perhaps give any thought to the message and the story of Jesus, we totally misunderstand it.

[1:05] We lose it in the soft focus of sentimentality, of peace and brotherhood and harmony, and all that sort of stuff. Of course, it is true that as we sing in the great carol, peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.

[1:20] That is true. The message of the gospel of Jesus' birth and his death and his resurrection to glory is a message of peace between God and man.

[1:32] But of course, it's equally true that this is a message that divides the world of men. Jesus was plain about that himself. We read it in Matthew chapter 10.

[1:44] And many of you here this morning can testify to that, can't you?

[2:02] You know the pain of families that are divided by the sharp sword of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is that sword, by the way, that Jesus is talking about, of course.

[2:15] Not a physical sword. You saw that plainly in chapter 26 when Jesus was arrested. Put the swords away, Jesus said. My kingdom will never be extended that way.

[2:25] Let's not be confused. But the message of the gospel of the kingdom is itself a double-edged sword. That's the language that Hebrews 4 uses.

[2:36] It's the language that we've seen all through Matthew's gospel. That's exactly what we've seen in the passion story, isn't it? The word of the gospel of the cross of Jesus divides.

[2:51] We've seen that the cross of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, divides the world. All through the passion we've seen that division. On the one hand, the cross is a light of revelation.

[3:03] Verse 54, the climax of chapter 27 that we saw last week. This is the Son of God. But on the other hand, and all around it, the sheer darkness, the mockery, the scorn, the reviling.

[3:19] The gospel of the crucified Savior is a double-edged sword. And the message of the cross will always be a message that divides.

[3:32] And Jesus, all the way through his teaching, is so determined that his disciples will see that and understand it, isn't he? Remember back to chapter 13, the parable of the sower? That was his whole message.

[3:44] You will see the gospel dividing people. You will see disappointments as well as joy. Why was Jesus so determined that his followers would see that?

[3:57] Well, he didn't want them to be discouraged in the real world of Christian witness. See, missionaries and evangelists, and by the way, that's just another name for disciples or Christians.

[4:10] That's all of us. We must be realists. Jesus says you'll see both of these reactions to the gospel always. And, remember, Jesus, in his teaching about mission in chapter 10, made it equally clear that we will see both these reactions to ourselves as missionaries.

[4:32] Because the messengers are so identified with the message. You will be hated for my name's sake, said Jesus. But fear not. Anyone who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.

[4:47] Now, remember who Matthew's writing to. He's writing to poor, hard-pressed Christians. Christians facing a hostile world who are easily discouraged in their faith when they see people rejecting the message and scorning the gospel.

[5:02] So, he's writing to. That's us, isn't it? It's certainly me. And Matthew's first readers were just like us, remember. The only difference between them and us is that they'd think we would wear very funny clothes.

[5:14] But, at the end of the day, we're all the same, followers of Jesus. And Matthew wants to encourage us. He wants us to see that our experience, when we get discouraged like that, isn't strange.

[5:26] It's not unexpected. It's the way it's always been. It's the way it always will be for Christian people. The message of the crucified Savior will always divide the world.

[5:40] It will always be met with fierce and perverse resistance. And yet, at the same time, be encouraged. It will always also be met with rejoicing. There'll be those whose fear turns to joy as they come to grasp the meaning of the good news of Jesus and his resurrection.

[5:57] See, Matthew is saying to us, look, you Christian believers, you're carrying this message to all the world. You are, to use Paul's words, the aroma of Christ.

[6:12] You're the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one, you are the smell of death. That's what Paul says. There will always be those who resist this message right to the end.

[6:27] But to others, you'll be as a fragrance of life. There will always be those who rejoice, who are filled with great joy. And that's Matthew's message to us.

[6:39] It's Jesus' message to all his followers, from the first disciples right to the present day. And we've seen that division all the way through the passion story. And now, in the wonderful story of the resurrection, we're going to see it just as clearly, aren't we?

[6:55] And I hope you saw, as we read, that Matthew structured his message once again to make that contrast so clear and so stark for us. It's a story of rejoicing and also of resistance, isn't it?

[7:09] I'm sure you can see by our Matthew symmetry, we've got rejoicing right in the center, haven't we, in verses 1 to 10 of chapter 28. But on either side, with the soldiers, with the high priests, with the elders, we've got resistance.

[7:26] See, once again, the message is clear. It divides. Jesus' teaching divided people. The cross divided men and women. The resurrection of Jesus divides.

[7:39] From the beginning, Jesus has been the great divider of men. There is rejoicing at him, but always there is also rejection.

[7:52] But, and this is really crucial, Matthew wants us to see clearly that this is not an equal division. It's not an arbitrary division. No, he's absolutely clear.

[8:05] Victory is on the side of those who rejoice. And on theirs alone. What he's telling us in this account of the resurrection and in the rejoicing that it gives rise to, and in the resistance that it provokes, is that there is no future, no future, for those who resist the message of the risen Jesus Christ.

[8:29] He's telling us that resistance is futile. It cannot succeed. And he's telling us that resistance is fraudulent. It just cannot stand up to proper scrutiny.

[8:42] Only those who meet the message of the risen Jesus with rejoicing can have a future. And they shall have a future. They will have a future.

[8:52] A glorious future. Where joy overtakes all fear. Where death is swallowed up in life. So, friends, Matthew's message of the resurrection is one of great realism and of great hope.

[9:08] There will be rejection of the gospel. There will be resistance to the kingdom. But it is both futile and fraudulent. There is no future for the world that resists the message of the risen Jesus.

[9:25] And so there can be rejoicing. There is a future, a bright future of joy for all who will rejoice in the message. So don't you fear. That's what the angel says in verse 5.

[9:37] Don't you fear, you people who seek Jesus. He has risen, as he said. The gospel is sure and certain. The future is sure and certain.

[9:49] Believe and you shall see him. That's the message of the resurrection. Let's look at Matthew's words a little more closely, shall we?

[9:59] I'm getting hot, so I'll take my jacket off. Let's look at his words carefully. First of all, look at verses 62 to 66. Let's face up to the resistance that surrounds the resurrection.

[10:12] These verses show us the woeful futility of a world that resists the truth of Jesus' resurrection. Let's stop the resurrection. That's their message.

[10:24] That's the pathetic message of the chief priests and the Pharisees. Let's seal the tomb. Let's put a guard against the tomb. Let's stop the resurrection. Let's see. Let's see. But Matthew exposes the reality that resistance is so utterly futile.

[10:40] And moreover, he shows us that resistance is motivated by unbelievable enmity, by sheer hatred, and by blind prejudice. It's absolutely staggering, isn't it?

[10:53] Verse 54 is the climax of the story of the cross. The Roman soldiers, the Gentile pagans, when they saw how Jesus died and what happened, they were filled with awe.

[11:04] And they said, surely this man was the Son of God. And yet in verse 62, here are these men, unbelievably prejudiced against Jesus.

[11:16] The religious leaders here, they're not only content with killing Jesus, they're still resenting him, still resisting him, even now he's a dead body in the tomb.

[11:26] Isn't that extraordinary? Yet they're exposed as mounting such a pathetic rearguard action. It's absolutely futile. Verse 51 has told us that the temple curtain has already been broken in two from heaven to earth.

[11:43] These priests and their religious paraphernalia, it's already been consigned to the dustbin of history by God. They're out of a job. Verse 52 told us that already the tombs have been opened.

[11:59] As inescapable proof of the great earthquake in history that's changed the world forever. And yet they say to themselves, we'll stop all possibility of a resurrection.

[12:13] As if the disciples had any thoughts of what they suspected in verse 64. The disciples scarpered long ago. We haven't seen them for ages. There's only a couple of women left. They're hardly likely to start commando raids.

[12:28] Is that what they really feared, these priests? These elders? Or did they fear something actually far worse? That perhaps Jesus might really be raised from the dead?

[12:43] You notice that the alliance is a rather unusual one. The chief priests and the Pharisees. Remember the chief priests were Sadducees. That was the group of people who had no belief at all in resurrection of any kind.

[12:57] The Pharisees of course did believe in general resurrection as a principle. And normally these were groups who hated one another. But they're united, aren't they? Against the Lord Jesus Christ.

[13:08] In their sheer prejudice against Jesus. It's just like we sang in Psalm 2, isn't it? Strange alliances of the kings, the rulers, the powerful ones against the Lord and his Christ.

[13:23] We see that in our world, don't we? The united nations, well we know that's a total misnomer, isn't it? But yet, united against Jesus Christ, well that's a different thing.

[13:38] Just look at the other week in the Pope's remarks. We had a unity between ardent secularists and atheists on the one hand and ardent Muslims on the other hand. Totally at odds with each other and yet united in condemnation that a man should dare to say that Christ's way was a unique way.

[14:00] So it is here. Why is there such unity against the possibility of a risen Jesus? Well, because none of them wanted to contemplate the awful possibility that Jesus could be raised from the dead.

[14:15] Because they actually had grasped what that would mean. See, in verse 63 it says, they remembered what Jesus said about rising on the third day. Well, the only time in Matthew's Gospel that Jesus spoke publicly to these people about rising on the third day was back in chapter 12 where he spoke about the sign of Jonah.

[14:34] And what was Jesus speaking about then? What was Jesus' point? Well, resurrection means judgment. All the men of Nineveh will rise up on that day, says Jesus, and they will judge your generation.

[14:48] Because they recognized God's Word through Jonah the prophet and they repented. But you, even though one greater than Jonah is here, you have not recognized God's Word. You have not repented.

[15:00] You see, they knew that if Jesus really was raised up, he'd be raised up to be their judge. They knew what resurrection meant. They remembered what Jesus had said back in Matthew 22 when he quoted to them from Psalm 110 that speaks about the Messiah, the Son of David, who would sit at God's right hand until God put all his enemies under his feet.

[15:28] That fairly shut them up at the time. But they remembered. They remembered that they were Jesus' enemies. They remembered that in his trial, Jesus had said to them, You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.

[15:48] That is, on the throne of judgment. Yet they knew what the risen Jesus really would mean. It meant that Jesus was the Messiah, that he was the Son of Man, that he was the Judge of all the earth.

[16:06] And that was a thought far too terrible for them to contemplate. And so they refused to believe it. And rather they determined that such a thing could never, ever become true.

[16:17] It's amazing, isn't it? Astonishing. What people will sometimes refuse to believe because of what it would mean if in fact it was actually true.

[16:29] We see those sorts of things all the time. We've been astonished, haven't we, by the health minister in South Africa who will refuse to believe that AIDS has anything to do with the HIV virus. It's just astonishing.

[16:40] And yet human beings, we have to admit, we have an enormous capacity for self-deception. And we collude with one another in collective self-deception.

[16:52] People simply will not allow things to be considered possible because we can't bear the consequences if they really were true.

[17:03] That's why people, isn't it, have medical symptoms for a very long time and they know that if these symptoms really are real it must mean that they've got cancer and so they won't go to their doctor because they don't want it to be true.

[17:19] And so it is with the resurrection of Jesus. David Hume, the great 18th century Edinburgh philosopher and atheist, he totally refused all ideas of the miraculous.

[17:31] He dismissed the resurrection as totally and utterly irrational and yet it is said that he ordered an enormous obelisk, an enormous monument to be built on top of his grave as a monument so as to prevent his body being raised up on the last day if he had been wrong.

[17:53] Isn't it ridiculous? To think that you could pit the puny strength of stones against Almighty God? But that's what these men did in our story, isn't it?

[18:07] With their seal and their guard. Surely verse 65 is a huge irony. Pilate says, make it as secure as you can. Secure enough to stop the power of God.

[18:19] And so we have this complete pantomime unfolding. They all troop off now into the tomb. The priests and the Pharisees solemnly sealing the stone with wax and with their authoritative steel.

[18:30] The soldiers, a great military guard of the utmost force, all to guard a tomb where the stone could probably never be rolled back anyway by less than a dozen men. And against a real and present threatening enemy, verse 56, two ladies called Mary weeping at the tomb.

[18:49] It's farcical. Of course it's deeply ironic, isn't it? The whole purpose, according to verse 64, is to stop the disciples from stealing a body and starting a message all about that.

[19:03] But in fact, when we get down to chapter 28, verse 13, that becomes precisely their message. Go and tell everybody that the disciples did come and steal the body. The very thing they feared, the very thing that they set up all these things to stop, becomes the very thing that they start propagating themselves.

[19:23] Of course, the only thing that their high security measures actually managed to achieve was that it makes the evidence for the truth far more certain. It makes stealing the body and anything like that utterly impossible, doesn't it?

[19:38] And what's Matthew's message for all of us? Well, friends, the world, despite all its strange alliances against God and His Son, cannot ever stop the power of God at work in His plan of redemption.

[19:56] Not ever. Resistance to the power of the risen Jesus and its message is futile. There will be unbelievable enmity to that message.

[20:12] There will be blind perversity because the message of the risen Jesus is so terrifying for the world. It speaks of judgment by a unique judge. But you can't stop the resurrection power of God with stones and with guards.

[20:29] Remember Acts chapter 8, the great persecution under Saul of Tarsus? And all the believers were scattered everywhere from Jerusalem. But what happened? Everywhere they went, they spread the gospel and people came to faith and the word of God grew mightily.

[20:44] The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. It always has been. It always will be. You can't stop the gospel of Jesus Christ with military power.

[20:55] You can't stop it with state power. You can't stop it by physical means. You're mad if you even think that. It's futile to think like that.

[21:05] That kind of thing only ends up serving God's purposes. The wrath of man shall praise you, says the psalmist. And that's what happened here. What an encouragement to Matthew's first readers who were persecuted and weak.

[21:21] What an encouragement to believers today in parts of the world where physical means and the force of the state is against the church. What an encouragement to us as we see increasingly the forces of our culture intent on closing off the Christian truth in our society.

[21:38] Be of good cheer. The gospel of the risen Lord cannot ever be prevented that way. It's futile. Resistance is futile.

[21:51] God only turns these things to serve His purposes. But Matthew wants us to see not just the futility of resistance but the fraudulence of resistance to the message.

[22:04] And that's the message of verses 11 to 15 of chapter 28. Isn't it? Shows the willful fraudulence of a world that resists the truth of Jesus' resurrection. Having totally failed to stop the possibility of the resurrection the priests and the elders now have to change tack.

[22:21] Let's silence the proclamation of the resurrection they say. But again Matthew wants to expose for us the reality that resistance isn't just futile it's plain fraudulent.

[22:33] It's utterly dishonest. It's not rational. It's not just futile and scientific and honest to resist the gospel of the risen Jesus. Again it's just motivated by unbelievable enmity by hatred of the truth by blind prejudice by refusal of the truth by perversion of the truth.

[22:55] They're faced with blinding proof blinding evidence but these people suppress it in their wickedness. Instead they take refuge in a preposterous story about body snatching the very thing that their whole efforts have been started to prevent.

[23:12] They called Jesus an imposter and said the message about a resurrection would be a worse fraud than claiming to be the Messiah but their last fraud proves to be worse than their first fraud their first crime in putting Jesus to death.

[23:30] They still reject him they still resist him even when they're faced with the undeniable truth of his resurrection. Verse 11 makes it clear they heard it all from the soldiers themselves they had first class eyewitness reports from men who had absolutely no cause to lie their lives were on the line but did they repent?

[23:56] Did they admit oh we were wrong we did murder God's Messiah. Were they contrite? Were they bowing down saying please forgive us oh God? No it's only hardened unbelief.

[24:13] Willful fraudulence not just to fool themselves but as verse 13 says to fool all the people too. Tell the people this unbelievable cock and bull story about grave robbery.

[24:25] It's quite preposterous it's obvious that's why they had to give the soldiers so much cash an extremely large bung as the football managers would call it. Well it would have to be wouldn't it?

[24:37] I mean just imagine right let's get this clear all of you bunch of tough hardened Roman soldiers outfoxed by a bunch of grieving divinity students most of them women oh well we were asleep asleep?

[24:57] come off it you know the penalty for that all of you asleep? told the other one anyway if you were asleep how do you know so accurately what happened?

[25:10] it's preposterous but it's amazing what people will believe when they want to hide the truth from themselves isn't it? we believe what we want to believe we are engagers in willful fraud and self-deception and worse the deception of others tell the people tell the people these lies unless the disciples get there first and are able to tell them the truth it's awful they knew the truth but not only did they resist it themselves they refused it to others even the plain evidence of the resurrection would not change their hearts remember in chapter 23 Jesus had said of them woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces you neither enter yourselves nor will you let others go in they denied it themselves but far worse they denied it to others because they loved the treasure of this world and its religion they wouldn't let go of this world of their power their influence their reputation their self-satisfaction but these are things that you have to let go of forever and embrace the truth of the riven Jesus

[26:34] Jesus who is the Lord of all who is the judge of all who calls to a kingdom that is not of this world but is a new world calls all to follow him and to bow to his supreme leadership to his rule to be transformed by him for this new world and that's why that's why today just as in those days people resist the gospel of a risen Jesus of a real physical genuine resurrection because of course it brings an earthquake to your life doesn't it an earthquake we don't want but we can't tolerate because a real Jesus a truly risen Lord of glory is a Lord who must be obeyed and so the soldiers got their cash and the religious establishment kept its kudos united in united in resisting the true gospel of Jesus and it's still the same today isn't it certainly it's true in the older established denominations of the churches in the west there's a quid pro quo just like that with the secular world the church establishment and its big wigs well they get to keep some of the kudos a little bit of deference here and there and in return the church will provide anodyne platitudes to order but nothing to really threaten the status quo nothing certainly too radical too fundamentalist too troublesome to the world terrible indictment isn't it that so often the religious establishment of the church has been content really with stories of a dead Jesus a silent Jesus stories that won't put anybody to any trouble nice memories wistful thoughts about what Jesus would do perhaps if he were here and yet utterly resistant to a real

[28:38] Jesus a living Jesus a Lord of glory who speaks from heaven and shatters the earth a Lord with authority to rule to tell us how to live and how not to live well Matthew says that's just the way it's always been the sons of those who murdered the prophets are still here today with us wearing ecclesiastical robes and all too often they're still refusing the plain message of the true gospel replacing it with a gospel of mere memory an impotent powerless Jesus who has no power to speak no power to rule his church therefore no power to truly save of course but fear not says Matthew whether whether the resistance comes from the foot soldiers of secularism or the corridors of theological radicalism it's all willful fraud it's a sham it's based on unbelievable enmity to God blind prejudice to the truth of scripture refusing evidence so plain that a blind man could see it but Matthew says fear not the gospel can't be stopped that way either there will always be resistance to the gospel of the risen Jesus we'll always see it just because as Jesus said you can't serve

[30:05] God and mammon you can't serve God and this world's gain and this world's gain is what grips people of this world whether it's riches and power or whether it's recognition and popularity and therefore many will choose to reject God despite all the evidence they will suppress it but Matthew says see it for what it is it's sheer self-deception it's willful fraud it's suppressing the truth and it's woefully futile has no future and what's more important says Matthew see the alternative way see that the victory is unquestionably with those who don't suppress the truth but with those who rejoice in the message of the resurrection that's the story right at the heart of these verses verses 1 to 10 isn't it they tell us the wonderful future for those who will rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus see the power of the resurrection of Jesus that's what these verses tell us see what Christian belief really is what faith really is it's not a leap into the dark it's a recognition of the blinding light of truth it's in total contrast to the rejection of the message that's based on unbelievable enmity based on blind prejudice here says Matthew faith in the resurrection rejoicing in the resurrection is based on undeniable evidence it's based on blinding proof it's proof of course that we're seen also by the soldiers as well as by the women it was reported by both the soldiers and the women but to the one it was the smell of death and it was resisted but to the other it was the fragrance of life eternal it was rejoiced in with great joy hardly need to say anything about these verses do we they speak for themselves

[32:10] Jesus had spoken about a new world and verse one tells us that this was the dawn of a new day the first day of the week not just of a new week but of a new world heaven has broken into earth forever and the angel who came at the beginning of the story to herald Jesus' birth well he reappears again here at the end of the gospel to herald his triumph isn't it wonderful to just see the effortless sweeping aside by the power of God all the enemies of the resurrection it's like swatting flies the stone with its pompous religious seal swept aside and opened the soldiers swept aside no need for stun guns it's psalm 2 again isn't it the one who sits in heaven and laughs the Lord has them in derision don't you love those words in the end of verse 2 I love that the angel sat on the stone why on earth would you put that in do angels need to sit down for a rest of course not he's put it there because this is evidence of the laughter of heaven isn't it the stone that was sealed with all the authority of the

[33:29] Jewish establishment all their authority and reputation on that great seal don't anybody dare move this stone but God's angel just shoves it out of the way and he sits on it look at this do you think this stone would frustrate the power of God resurrection I wonder if on the last day David Hume's great obelisk will be shunted aside by the angel of God and he'll sit on it and say the same thing did you think this puny pathetic stone could set aside the power of God and friends certainly on that day there will be a total exposure before the whole world of the sheer flimsiness the sheer foolishness of the apparent weighty offences that men have put up over the years against the possibility of the truth of the risen Christ their PhD theses their books their theories their clever articles they'll all be swept aside and on that day too people will be paralyzed with fear just like these soldiers were of the truth because the resurrection of

[34:46] Jesus is fearful for all the enemies of God the king set on high by God will rule the nations he will break them with a rod of iron read psalm 2 read psalm 110 resurrection means that he will rule in the midst of his enemies and no wonder the world wants to hide from that truth no wonder the world wants to deceive itself into thinking it can't be true it must not be true we can cope with a great calamity and a crisis like global warming we can do something about that but we can't cope with that thought but it is true and it is a truth that strikes fear into the heart of a world that is at odds with God but also and this is the wonderful thing look at verse 5 for those who seek Jesus there is no fear is there only promise don't you be afraid there is a promise of glory for you there is a promise of a future for you notice that the focus is all on the evidence on the blinding proof total contrast to the soldiers he has risen the angel says as he has said

[36:03] Jesus word is proved true come and see where he lay he's risen as you can see they're both ear witnesses of Jesus promise and eyewitnesses of the truth that it came to pass Matthew is plain he's transparent he's clear all the gospel writers are clear there were witnesses many of them named witnesses hundreds of witnesses faith is not a leap into the dark it's a response to clear and undeniable evidence it's blinding proof of a miraculous resurrection from the dead it can only be denied if you are utterly prejudiced if you prejudge it as being impossible just because you can't tolerate the thought of what it would mean if it really is true and the resurrection says verse 7 must become a message go quickly and tell says the angel it is a message it's a message that divides the world the soldiers go and tell don't they and theirs is a reaction of fear it leads to a denial of the truth it leads to money for themselves but a world of darkness but the women in verse 8 they go and tell and their fear turns to joy and their message becomes a declaration of the truth and it becomes a message of joy for the whole world it's a message that brings light into the darkness do you see in verse 7 where are they to go to Galilee why Galilee well it's

[37:38] Galilee of the Gentiles where Jesus ministry began it's Galilee of the Gentiles where it's going to end and where the disciples ministry is going to begin why because it's the springboard to the whole world remember back in chapter 4 at the beginning Matthew quoted from Isaiah about Galilee of the Gentiles where he said the people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light for those dwelling in the shadow the land of the shadow of death on them has a light dawned the light of life of resurrection of the end of death that's the message that Jesus' resurrection has for the world it's a promise for the future it's the light of life it's the death of death and faith just means rejoicing in that evidence rejoicing in the message that that word brings to us that's what the women did they believed we know that because they ran to tell that's what we're told and when you've grasped that truth you have to tell it and do you see in verse 9 as they did behold Jesus met them and they knew him and they knew at that moment beyond all doubt that he was the Lord their

[38:59] God they fell down and worshipped him and that's Matthew's message there's no other way to know the true God the only God except by rejoicing in the message of the risen Jesus that's how you find God he is the way of the truth and the life all resistance to that message the message of Christ dying for our sins and being raised to life for our justification that we might come to know God all resistance is a fraud comes from enmity and prejudice and fear but it's futile the gospel can't be stopped by force it can't be stopped by falsehood the only future for this world is in receiving and rejoicing in the message of the risen Jesus that's Matthew's plain message so he's saying to us friends if we're

[40:01] Christians don't fear be realists yes this word will divide but rejoice verse 10 is as true today as it was then it's when we too go and tell the news of the risen Jesus that people will meet him and find him that their lives will light up that they'll change from fear to great joy as they find in him the light of life as they find in him the God that they've been seeking the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God for salvation there is no other it can't be stopped if you're not a Christian then this message is still a promise for you also if you seek Jesus who was crucified as these women did then Matthew says to you face the evidence he is risen and rejoice in the message and trust in the word of these witnesses who are faithful and true do these things and he will reveal himself to you you will find

[41:17] Jesus Christ the Lord of glory God made known and he will carry you with him to his new world to a glorious future to the dawn of something new and wonderful forever don't resist the message of the risen Jesus Christ it's fraud to do that it's deception you're deceiving yourself you're walking into the darkness willfully don't resist it don't think you can stop the truth of the gospel of the Jesus Christ in this world it's absolutely futile to think that rejoice in the risen Jesus it's the only hope it's the only future that if you seek Jesus who was crucified and is risen you will surely find him and it will be the dawn not just of a new day in your life now but the dawn of a life that is eternal in the kingdom the new world that Jesus brings that's the message of the resurrection

[42:39] Jesus is risen let's pray and behold Jesus met them and said greetings and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him then Jesus said to them do not be afraid go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me we thank you heavenly father for the undeniable evidence of the risen Jesus for the blinding proof that all our hopes are realized in him we thank you for the knowledge that nothing in this world can ever stand against the power of God for salvation that this gospel is bringing faith and new life to light all over this world today and every day may we always rejoice in the message of this power the message of your presence we too may have a future and rejoice with you in glory forever for we ask it in Jesus name amen to come to him to pray