Special

We're gonna have our our reading now before Tom comes up to preach. So if you'd like to grab a Bible, if you've got 1, if not, it will come up on the screen. Turn to Matthew chapter 27, and Abby Kimberley, our Ministry trainee is gonna come up and read it for us. Matthew chapter 27 verse 62. The next day, the 1 after preparation day, the chief priests and the pharisees went to pilot.

Sir, they said. We remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, after 3 days, I will rise again. So give the order for the team to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.

Take a guard pilot answered, go make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen, and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on the tube and sat on it. He of his appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women do not be afraid But I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples.

He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy and ran to his disciples. Suddenly, Jesus met them greetings, he said.

They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to galilee. There they will see me. While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priest, everything that had happened.

Then the chief priests, when the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money telling them you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. Then the 11 disciples went to galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted, then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you And surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age. Well, praise the lord. Thanks for, reading that to us, Abby.

And, good morning. Welcome. Happy Easter 2 years. Lovely to be here together. As a church family celebrating this most awesome of days, Christ risen from the dead.

Wonderful to be here. Great. Who was at the Sunrise service? Just out of interest. I just saw Dean Lucas, any other early risers, Caroline?

They're all sort of slumped slightly. They're very good. We had a sunrise service in Richmond Park for those of you who don't know this morning. So a few have been up early with the sun worshiping the risen lord, and it's a great joy to be here. So keep this, passage open, in front of you.

And, if you were able to join us on Good Friday, we were looking at the burial of Jesus Christ and the story of Joseph of Arabothea, and this morning we're picking up that story in the very next verse. Verse 62. And, as we look at it together, shall we pray? Riz and Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that you are alive.

And we thank you that you have poured out your life giving spirit upon us. That even though at 1 time, we were dead in our transgressions and in our sins, that you, by grace, have made us alive in Christ Jesus, and you have given us a new life with his spirit, and we thank you that we can call out our father and know you as our father. And we pray lord Jesus that as we come this morning to see the place where you lay. That you would help us to rejoice all over again that that place was empty, that you were not there because you had risen. And we thank you that you come to us this Easter morning with greetings just as you came to these women and these disciples.

And we pray that you would greet our hearts again with the news of resurrection. And we pray that we too would go from this place quickly in order to tell of all the things that have been done. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, as I was, preparing this message, the, the image that I had in my mind was of a man standing on a beach. A man standing on a beach at the point where the waves meet the sand.

And as this man looks out over the water, he sees an enormous wave as wide as the horizon beginning to approach him. And instead of running away from that wave as quickly as he can or praying. He decides that he's gonna steady himself, and with his own hands, he's gonna wait for this wave. And as it arrives, he's gonna push it back and try to resist it with just the force of his own hands. And so as the wave approaches the shore, it begins to look a bit like this.

Now, this is not a real image for those of you who might immediately think that it is. But this is the image that was in my mind. As the wave approaches the shore, the noise of the energy is deafening. In the ears of that man, and he can feel the wind and the spray upon his face. And he's now standing in the shadow because the sun has been blocked out for water.

And in the moment where contact is about to happen, he puts out his hand and tries to push the thing back to see. And in less than a second, he is swallowed up forever by the force of that wave. To try to resist such a power With that method or with any method is absolutely futile. You can take that which raised Jesus Christ from the dead. It is a power which since the dawn of time has been approaching the world with every prophet that preached in the old testament.

It got a little bit closer. Until here, in Matthew 27, the noise of resurrection energy is Definitely. It is about to sweep through the world, not in order to destroy it and to flatten it, brick to bring life and cleansing to all who will be taken up by it. And in verse 62 of this reading, we meet a small group of men standing at the water's edge, and they're gonna put their hands out and try to stop it. They're gonna do everything they can.

With their little fingers to resist the greatest force that the world has ever seen. In fact, you can really divide this reading and the people in this room and the people all over the world into 2 groups. Those those 2 groups, 2 groups that we find here. There are those who by the grace of god alone are gonna be taken up into that wave and are going to ride with it to the ends of the earth. And there are those who are going to do what they can with their lives.

In order to resist its force and to try to push it back. And we're gonna start with that group of people this morning. We meet them in verse 62 and then again in Matthew 28 And this is the first point if you take your notes. Here's plan a. Plan a secure the tomb and stop the king.

Plan a. Secure the tomb. Stop the king. See it with me verse 62. The next day, the 1 after the preparation day.

The chief priests and the pharisees, so here's this coalition of chaos, chief priests and pharisees, gonna come to the secular authority of the day, pilot, Sir, they said verse 63. We remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said after 3 days, I will rise again. It's incredible what they know, isn't it? And what they remember. Sir, we remember.

We heard his sermons We know what news he was filling our world with. We remember what he said. We were there. We've heard his preaching. He said, that after 3 days, I will rise again.

They remember resurrection sermons. They can't get it out of their minds. And so you might argue that at this point they remember more of the gospel than even the disciples themselves. At least these guys remember what they found it so hard and confusing to understand. We remember he said he's going to rise from the dead and that's why we're here, sir.

They remember what he said, and yet it's very clear that they do not, and they never loved what he said. They did not love that sermon about resurrection. In fact, they hated it. Look what he look what they call Jesus in verse 63. What a title.

We remember that while he was still alive, what's the title, that deceiver said. Now if you know your bible a little bit, who would you normally expect to receive that sort of name in the bible? Satan. Satan would be given that name. He is the liar and the deceiver and the murderer from the beginning.

And so you see how twisted and perverted the human heart can be. The prophet Isaiah says doesn't need to the people woe to you when you label good evil and evil good woe to you when you're so upside down and topsy-turvy that the greatest good in the world is evil in your eyes. That's where they are. Resurrection of the Messiah is now that deceiver. They hate it.

They remember it, but they hate But that's not the only thing that motivates their meeting with pilot. Not only is it hatred for Jesus, But the truth is when you read this story, you see that they are absolutely terrified of what might be about to happen. Have a look with it in verse 63. They can't help give it away. Sir, they said, we remember that while he was still alive, That deceiver says after 3 days, I will rise again.

While He was still alive. What does that tell us? They know he was dead. They know he's dead. He's not alive anymore.

They know that he was crucified that the job was finished and that he was laid in a tomb. And so what are they worried about? Why don't they just go home, put on their slippers like their pipes, turn on countdown and just forget all about it. If Jesus is such a liar, He's a deceiver and he is now dead and in the tomb, what are they worried about? They're terrified because they know that the power of god was with that man And they're terrified that some kind of heavenly power is gonna come erupting out of that tomb.

They didn't wanna submit to that power, but they couldn't deny. There was something otherworldly about Jesus. And they're so scared of what might happen if they don't get a plan together. I mean, Again, they can't help give it away. Just look at what they say in verse 63 and 64.

That deceiver said after 3 days, I will rise again. So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. You see, the question is, how scared Do you think they really were of the disciples at this point? Ask yourself, were they an intimidating bunch of people at this point?

No. They'd legged it. They'd run off. They were hiding behind any wall or bush that was big enough to cover them. What are they so worried about that these disciples are gonna come and undo their plans?

Well, they seem to be, don't they? They seem to be, but it's a smokescreen. They're not really worried about that. They're terrified, as I say. That the power of god might be with that man.

And so look at their plan. It's pathetic, isn't it? Give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he's been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.

Take a guard pilot answered. Go make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. How many times is that word secure repeated? Make it secure.

1. Make it secure. 2, go and make it secure. 3 times. Let's make it secure.

We can do it. Can't we? Let's put a plan together. Why don't you go and make it secure? Put a wax seal on it.

And that way we'll we'll know whether anyone's been in and out if that seal is broken. That will keep the resurrection power at bay. And then let's station our biggest bravest guards at the tomb. And let's put them on a 24 hour watch clock. So that they're there all the time.

And that'll keep the tomb secure, won't it? That'll stop This resurrection power from coming out of the gray. You see their plan? How could it ever work? Make it secure, says pilot, so they went and they made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Amazing, isn't it? Of course, they don't say that they're actually afraid of resurrection power. But everything in their plan signifies that they are. It's not the disciples that they're really worried about. It's Christ rising out of that grave.

That's what they don't wanna have to confront or deal with. But look how it goes. 28 verse 1. After the sabbath at dawn, on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb, and here are these 2 women showing up as soon as they can.

Now the sabbath is over, they're gonna be there. Soon as they can, they're gonna be there. And they're not gonna allow fear of anyone or anything to overcome their devotion for the savior who they just wanna be near again who they just wanna see, and then look at this in verse 2 to 4. This is the language of the wave meeting the sea. The the wave meeting the shore.

Sorry. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the lord came down from heaven. And going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning. And his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. So here it is. This is the This is the best that men can do to keep Jesus out of the tomb. Keep keep Jesus in the tomb. You've got all the intelligence and the cunning of the religious leaders.

You've got all the brawn of Rome. This is this together is all that man can do to keep Jesus at bay. This is a summary of all of our arguments and all of our gadgets and all of our technology and all of our philosophies and all of our religions. This is everything that we've got as a race to keep Jesus in the tomb, to keep him secure, to keep him at bay, and it's all swallowed up and gone and taken in just like when that wave came and crashed into the shore. And so you'd think at this point, the religious leaders might be ready to concede.

They might be ready to give up, lay down their arms. And trust in the savior. But just because plan a didn't work doesn't mean there isn't a plan b. Okay? And let's see that now.

Here's plan b. Control the narrative and stop the spread. If they can't secure the tomb and stop the king, At least they might be able to control the narrative and stop the spread. Have a look how they go in verse 11. We'll come back to the middle verses in a minute.

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests have met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large some of money telling them, you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. You see, these guards have now got a really big problem because they have failed in the 1 task that they were given. They were supposed to make that tomb secure and guard it. They couldn't do it and now they've abandoned the site altogether.

They've left their post. And so if this information gets back to their seniors or to pilot, They are going to be facing probably execution or severe punishment. And so they've gotta do something now. They've gotta get ahead of the game, control the narrative, and make sure their story gets out first. And that's what verse 12 to 13 is all about.

You are to say his disciples came here we go. This is what we'll say. This is what we'll say. This is gonna wash. People will believe this.

You are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we'll satisfy him. He'll he'll be able to work with that and we'll keep you out of trouble so the soldiers took the money. And they did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Now just think with me about how humiliating it is for them to have to accept this story. Think about how humiliating this is for the leaders. That that that they have now they have now got to say that the very thing that they tried to stop has happened, that that they failed. The the 1 thing that they wanted to do and that they asked pilot to do has not happened, and they've now got to concede that. But but think think of how humiliating this is also for the Roman guards.

I mean, these were not pushovers. Okay? And look at the story they've now been paid to tell. I mean, you can imagine them in the pub, like, with their mates. You you know, and 1 of them says uh-uh what happens to that job are you doing at the grave?

And he says, oh, yeah. I mean, it didn't, yeah, it didn't go so well. I mean, we we fell asleep. Oh, is it? Yeah.

And then we were overcome, by the disciples. Alright. Overcome by who did you say, mate? By the disciples. You don't mean those sort of pathetic fishermen disciples.

Are you the ones that hang around with that Jesus boat? You don't mean there's ones that sort of mistook a military sword for a bit of cutlery and hacked off a soldier's ear instead of his head, but you you don't mean don't mean those? Do you? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Then, you know, it's utterly humiliating, isn't it? They've taken all this money, and they've now got they've now got tell this story and for the leaders as well, as I say, it's an absolute embarrassment. But they they genuinely think that they're still in the fight at this point, that that they've still got a chance of of getting this thing stopped.

It reminds me a bit of the the lazarus story. If if you know that, when Jesus had, had risen lazarus from the dead, And so many people had seen it, and there was witnesses, and it was spreading. And then the leaders get together, and they hatch this little plan, to try to prevent this nazirous thing going any further. And here's their reasoning. Okay?

Let's see it on the screen. This is from John. Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see lazarus whom he had raised from the dead, so the news is out. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well. For on account of him, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in So you see the bottom of verse 11.

What do they wanna stop? They wanna stop the spread. Control the narrative, stop the spread because people are believing in Jesus How shall we do it? Let's try to kill lazarus. And they don't seem to have learned that that's a pretty futile business to get involved in.

Lazarus already did that death thing, and somebody was able to call him back from here. He's looking pretty invincible at the moment, lazarus, and yet they think, here's the best that our minds have got Let's kill him and in that way we will stop the spread. It's exactly the same thing going on with Jesus. They were not able to stop resurrection power, but maybe we've got a chance of stopping resurrection preaching. If we just pay the right people off except these humiliating circumstances, I think pilot will buy it.

The world will buy it and this Jesus thing will be forgotten within the week. That's their plan, isn't it? But of course it's never ever gonna work. And you know, well, no, I think there is a a sort of humorous side to this story. It is also a serious window into the human heart, isn't it?

Because the reality is the heart of mankind is so perverted that it will accept almost anything except the news that Jesus is alive and that we must bow to him. I was talking to a member of this, congregation a few weeks ago about a, a Korean cult that is in London, and I think other parts of the UK which is labeled mother god. It's called mother god, and many of you perhaps would have some of you at least would have met these people in town and the big doctrine that they try to get across and that they call people to is the idea that not only is their god the father, but there's god the mother, there's a god the mother, a mother god, and, they want people to come to believe in that. And they also believe that Jesus, you know, was a was a was a Korean woman. So rather than the the historical man with an enormous weight of evidence behind him and all of the scriptures behind him.

He was in fact a Korean woman who lived fairly recently, and I think has returned to, as well. And this is the sort of news that they want to share. And I was t speaking with this member, and 1 of the things we were saying was how how does anyone you know, how does anyone actually believe, you know, who hears that and think, yeah, that that rings true. You know, and believes it. But of course, that is to misunderstand the nature of sin, isn't it?

Because sin is not just an intellectual problem. It's a moral problem. It's a moral problem. I think of myself before I became a Christian. You know, people had explained to me patiently.

The news of the resurrection and the risen Christ. And I chose not to believe it, not because it didn't make sense or wasn't logically coherent. Because I didn't want to. I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to do my own thing and believe my own story and live with myself as king.

And that's what sin does. It's not just a rational logical thing. We will accept almost any set of circumstances that allow us to retain our independence from god. We'll believe anything as long as it keeps me on the throne. Making the decisions.

And that's why plan b is here. You know, you would expect after plan a failing that they would realize the game was up, but they put plan b together because that is what sin is like, isn't it? We would do anything we can. To try to suppress the news of Jesus Christ. And so as you can see, not only does plan a completely fail, but so does plan b so does plan b Look with me at verse 5 to 10 and just see the emphasis here.

The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into galilee.

There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and they ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly, Jesus met them greetings, he said. They came to him clasped his feet and worshiped him.

Then Jesus said do not be afraid. Go and tell. To my brothers, to go to galilee, there they will see me. And then verse 18, as we had read, Jesus meets the disciples and says all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me, therefore go tell. Go tell.

So do you see plan b control the narrative, stop the spread. But look at the repetition in those verses I've just read. Go and tell. Go and tell. Go and tell.

Don't hold on. Go and tell. All authority given to me, go and tell. So how successful was plan b? It was about as successful as plan a.

There was nothing they could do. Nothing they could do because the same power which raised Jesus Christ from the dead was charging that gospel message. And if they could not keep him in the tomb, How could they keep his gospel in the tomb? And you follow the story through in acts, and you see that this is exactly what happened in just a matter of days, the whole town was filled with the news that Christ had risen from the dead. In just a matter of days, market traders and fishermen would be totally transformed, and they would become ambassadors of the king.

Declaring that Christ had risen from the dead and no matter what the enemies tried to do, they could not suppress it. And then you read on into the book of acts and time and time again. It's Christ is risen. Go and tell. Christ is risen.

Go and tell. I mean, if you've got a Bible, you can just flick over. I'll show you a few examples. Here's acts 2. Acts 2 23.

This is Peter's sermon. This man was handed over to you by god's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross but god raised him from the dead. And you look over and see 3 verse 10, 3 verse 14. You disowned the holy and righteous 1 and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life.

God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. Chapter 4 verse 10, then know this, you and all the people of Israel. It is by the name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified but god raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed. And how does it go?

It goes on and on and on like that through the book of acts. Christ is risen. Christ is alive. Christ has been freed from death. Go and tell.

Go and tell. Go and tell. Nothing they could do could keep Jesus from coming out of that tomb, and nothing they could do could keep his message from spreading. And if you want further evidence for that, you just need to look around you. You just need to think about those behind you and look at those in front of you.

And think of those sitting next to you. This is the evidence that both plan a and plan b catastrophically failed because the news of the risen Christ continues to spread and has come to us this very day. And so if you're not a Christian this morning, perhaps you're here, and you're not a believer in Christ and you're not sure what you make of this whole Easter story. Well, I wanna encourage you to think about which group do you really belong to. Where do you wanna be?

Do you wanna be part of the crowd that gets swept up with this good news wave? And is taken to the ends of the earth with this message of forgiveness and new life. Or do you want to be part of the group who stands with your hands and tries in your own heart in your own little way to push back against the greatest force. This world has ever seen. So it might be that some of you are here and you think of your heart a little bit like this tomb.

I've put a guard on it. I've made it secure. I've sealed it up. Because I don't want anything coming in, and I don't want anything coming out. I'm happy with what's in there.

I've decided what I believe about these things, about god and eternity and meaning and my life. I've got a lovely security over my heart. And I don't want anything breaking in. Don't you see how impossible it is to resist resurrection power? The Bible tells us that a day is coming when every single 1 of us will have to confront this resurrection power, that every person who is in their graves will hear the voice of the son of god, and they will have to come out and deal with resurrection at some point in their lives.

And so the question is where do you wanna be? We can keep the guard watching for a little few years in this life. But eventually, that seal's getting broken. And you're gonna have to reckon with resurrection power. Which group do you want to have belonged to?

The group who knew the forgiveness of the Savior, met him on resurrection morning and were forgiven or the group who in small and pathetic ways stood against him and get swallowed up. Come to Christ this morning. Friend, if you're not a Christian, come to Christ this morning. See him alive. Ready to forgive you.

Ready to take you to heaven. Ready to wash away anything that you've done. Went ready to give you a mission that can only ever succeed. Where it goes. Come and be part of that.

And if you already have and you're a Christian here in this room, just hear again those 2 commands in verse 6 and 7. You notice the 2 commands, Matthew 28 versus 6 and 7. Look what we're told. Christian, come and see, then go quickly and tell. Come and see, then go quickly and tell.

Come and see this morning, Christian, where your savior once lay. Come and see and remind yourself that your sin was left in that tomb. And all your guilt was left in that tomb, come and see where he lay. But whatever you do, don't keep it to yourself, then go quickly and tell. This is the power of the resurrection.

Shall we pray that the lord would help us? To tell these things now, lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for the invincible power that you have over death. We thank you that on this Easter morning, Though the wickedness of men thought that it had succeeded in putting an end to your story, There was nothing that could be done to keep you in the shadow of the grave. Thank you that you are alive, lord Jesus. Thank you that we have been invited to come and see this morning, and we pray that you would help us to go and tell quickly.

Go quickly and tell. This resurrection news. Father we pray for anyone in this room or in our borough, in our country listening online, who has not yet bowed the need to the risen Jesus, and we pray for miracles this morning. We pray please for resurrection miracles in our land today that people for the first time would have their eyes open and would realize he is not here. He is risen and that they would follow him.

And we ask all of these things in the precious name of our risen saviour, amen.