The Victorious King

Okay, good morning. Wonderful to see you guys. If you want to stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, thank you for the day. Lord, I just thank you for who you are, for how much you love us, and for what you've done for us, Lord.

Lord, I just pray that you bless this time. Lord, help us to sit everything else that's going on in life, help us to sit all that aside, Lord, and just to simply focus on you, Lord. God, help us to live expectantly of you. Lord, we know that you're coming soon. Take us home to be with you. So just help us to live expectantly of that, Lord, and to have our lives be reflective of that fact.

We love you, Father, and we praise you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you'd like, and we'll continue on. Your word says that you are coming soon. With all that's going on in the world, God, it's hard not to think that that day is very soon. So, Lord, let's just help us. Help us to live just expectantly of you, Lord.

Help us to be found faithful when you do come. Lord Jesus, come.

I just pray that there are people here today, Lord, that do not know you. I pray that today would be that day. That they would trust their lives with you, Lord. Trust their hearts with you. Lord, that they would become a child of God.

Nothing would ever change that, Lord. I just thank you for your son, Jesus. I thank you for what he's done for us. Thank you that you hung on that cross. That you bled and that you died for us, Lord. But I also thank you, Lord, that you rose again. That you gave us new life, Lord. You are victorious, God. That you are risen. That you are alive today. That you are alive to intercede for us, Lord, and give us new life.

Father, God, I just pray that as Pastor Ryan comes this morning, God, I just pray, Lord, that you would just overflow him with your Holy Spirit. Lord, give him the words to speak, Lord, and just let your Holy Spirit move mightily in this room today. We love you, Father, and we thank you and we praise you. All of God's people said, amen. Let's have some time of fellowship.

Good morning. If you could begin to find your seats, grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad you're here this morning. A few things to take note of. On the left-hand side of your bulletin are the things that go on throughout the week, different studies, Bible studies, small groups to get involved in. So take a look at that. And if you're not involved already, find one of those and get yourself plugged in. Cars are praising Jesus today, even when the rocks cry out or the Hondas.

I can about guarantee you that's a Honda minivan because half that parking lot is a Honda minivan. Okay. Coming in February, a couple of things in the middle section of your bullets to pay attention to. Coming in February, the youth group is going to start doing like a little fundraiser thing between the services. And I just want you to know, this was not my idea.

This was their idea. I didn't tell them, hey, listen, this is what you have to do. I love coffee. Make coffee. I just get to be a blessed recipient of it. But they're going to do a little fundraiser between services. They'll be selling specialty coffee and espresso. And they came. They came up with a name and a slogan. And I absolutely love it. The name is the blessed bean.

And the slogan is he brewing it. That's just amazing. Was that you or did the kids come up with it? There it is right there. Kids came up with it. That's awesome. Okay. Tristan will share a little bit more about that next week. He'll put together some info. And then also there is going to be a new small group coming mid into February that Joe Palmer is going to be leading.

He's going to get up next week and share about that. They had to be out of town this week. So. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device. Sorry, I'm thinking also in your car is silenced. That's a terrible joke. Whoever's car it is. I'm sorry. I'm not making fun of you. If it was me, I would do the same thing. So make sure that those things are silenced.

And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 52. Looking at the new American standards. So we all sound the same. If you need a copy should be one in a row. And as you're turning, there, as they have displayed for us, if you would please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word,

I will read the odd versus if you will follow along with Lewis and the even versus Psalm 52 for the choir director, a mascal of David. When Doeg, the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, David has come to the house of Himalaya. Why do you boast an evil almighty man? The loving kindness of God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction. Like a sharp razor,

a worker of deceit. You love evil more than good falsehood, more than speaking what is right. Say law. You love all words that devour a deceitful tongue, but God will break you down forever. He will snatch you and tear you away from your tent and uproot you from the land of the living. Say law. The righteous will see and fear and will laugh at him saying, behold,

the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted him, trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire. But as for me, I am like a green old tree in the house of God. Trust in the loving kindness of God forever and ever. And if you'd read verse nine with me, I will give you thanks forever because you have done it. And I will wait on your name for it is good in the presence of your godly ones.

And father, we come to you and I do thank you that your loving kindness does. Endure forever. And father, I thank you that we do not serve a God who is in the grave, but Lord, we serve a living and risen savior. And so father, as we take time this morning to look at that, I pray that your holy spirit would begin to impress upon us the great victory that you have won for us over the grave and Lord, that we would truly rest in the hope that we have in you.

We just thank you, father, in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the gospel of Matthew chapter 27, Matthew chapter 27, the title of this morning's message is the victorious king. We spent a great deal of time talking about the sacrifice of the king, all of the things that led up to that, including the crucifixion,

which is what we covered a couple of weeks ago. I won't go back into all of that detail. If you did not have a chance to hear that, you can go to our website. And by the way, if there's any other study that you want to listen to, you can go to our website, uh, Calvary chapel, arc city.org. And there's a messages tab and you can go back and listen to all kinds of old messages.

Um, if you can't sleep at night, it's a great way to do that. So, um, you can go back and listen to anything you want to. Um, but you can go back and listen to, uh, our study on, uh, Matthew 27. But today we're going to talk about the victory that the king has won for us because he was victorious over death. And as I mentioned to first service, we spent a great deal of time talking about the death of Jesus.

But we don't always spend enough time talking about the resurrection and the life of Jesus because there is great power in the life of the believer because Jesus is alive. And so that's what we're going to talk about this morning is the victorious king. We will not make it all the way through chapter 28, but we'll do, uh, chapter 27 and most of chapter 28. As we talk about this this morning, as a matter of fact, there's three things that we're going to see.

We're going to look at the burial of Jesus. We're going to look at the resurrection of Jesus. And then we're going to look at the victory, kind of, and bring it together with some points that I think are important for us to pay attention to as believers in light of the resurrection. And so we start in verse 57 of chapter 27. And this is what it says. When it was evening,

there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself also had become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. And he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb.

And he went away. And Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the grave. Now on the next day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that when he was still alive, that deceiver, that deceiver said, after three days, I am to rise again. Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day.

Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal him away and say to the people, he has risen from the dead. And the last deception will be worse than the first. 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. And so as we mentioned, of course,

when we left Jesus last, he had shouted from the cross. It is finished. There's a great earthquake. The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And there Jesus hung on the cross dead, having given up his spirit. And as he hung there dead, it became closer and closer to the time of the Sabbath that took place before the Passover. And they needed to do something with the bodies.

Now, typically what would happen is that bodies would hang for a very long time on the cross, sometimes days before a person finally died. And it was always hung there as sort of a message to everybody else. Say, this is what happens when you cross Rome. So the bodies were usually left there. But when they were taken down, they were not given proper burial.

After all, this was the worst criminal death. Someone could die. The valleys were dumped into the valley of Phnom where they were then burned. But Joseph of Arimathea didn't want that to happen to Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea is kind of an interesting character. We really don't know a ton about him, except for a couple of little clips that are given to us in the gospel of accounts.

We know that Joseph from the book of Luke had been a member of the Sanhedrin. He was one that had not cast his vote against Jesus, was actually opposed to what they did with the crucifixion. We know that Joseph was a wealthy man. And we know that he was the one that provided his tomb for Jesus. Other than that, we don't know a ton about him. He was a disciple of Jesus.

Other than that, we don't know very much about him. I think that Joseph was one of those kind of guys where he had like a little drummer boy sort of moment. You know the song Little Drummer Boy? What can I have him? I'll play the drums for him. Well, the only thing Joseph really had that he could offer to Jesus was a brand new tomb. He couldn't convince everybody else not to crucify him.

He couldn't save him. So at least he could give him the proper burial. And so Joseph goes to Pilate, and requests, I know this is what you usually do with the bodies. I know they usually get dumped in this valley and then burned. But is there any way I could take the body of Jesus? I would just like to give him a proper burial. And so Pilate granted the request.

And that's exactly what Joseph did. I always wondered how hard it was to deal with the body of Jesus after that situation. That's one aspect of funerals I've never done, and hopefully I'll never do, is dealing with the body right after they go home to be with the Lord. They dealt with the body and brought him, and it tells us that he wrapped him in a cloth, wrapped him in linen, and then he laid him in a tomb.

His own tomb where no one had been before. And so as Jesus was laid in this tomb, we must understand that a tomb was kind of like a cave hewn out of rock. It would have been in the side of a hill somewhere, not really the place where everybody wanted to end up. That's where he lays him. And as he lays him there and wraps Jesus in that cloth, lays him in the tomb,

it says he rolled the stone in front of him. And then he went away. And then Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary sitting opposite of the grave. Now I find it to be interesting that every gospel account that mentions the crucifixion also mentions a fact. Some go into more detail than others, but they all mention a fact. And that's that Jesus, and that's that Jesus was buried.

You may think to yourself, of course it does. Why would that be a big deal? Well, it's a big deal for a particular reason. Now, as I mentioned before, I do a lot of funerals. And as I do a lot of funerals, I oversee a lot of internments. An internment is when you go and they go ahead and lay the body in the grave. I've overseen a bunch of those. And you know what I've never seen happen?

I've never seen them put someone in the ground that's alive. I have yet to see that happen. And I hope I never see that happen, because that'd be a weird day, right? And this is why I point this out. For them to bury Jesus, what would he have had to be? Dead. You say, Ryan, of course he's dead. We read that a couple of weeks ago. This is not new news. I understand that.

But what you need to realize is that there's opponents of the gospel that will tell you that Jesus never actually died, that it was all just a big mystery, that he only, it's called the swoon theory, that he only, he only appeared to be dead, and that his time that he spent in a tomb, because you know what they say, if somebody's in really bad health, stick them in a damp, cold, dark place, and that will immediately spur them back to life, right? I mean, we got doctors in here. Surely that's what's said. And so all of a sudden he came back to life.

But the fact of the matter is, for them to bury him, he had to be dead. So that theory just doesn't hold any water. But then as we see that they put him into the grave, we find that there were two ladies there, that were hanging out. Did you notice it? Mary Magdalene, it says the other Mary, most scholars believe that to be Mary of Bethany, the one who sat at the feet of Jesus

while Martha was making the meal. I think that's the Mary that's being referred to there. It says that they just sat opposite the grave. In other words, they just kind of sat there, staring at the tomb, probably thinking to themselves, what are we going to do now? The guy that we put all of our hope in, the one that we thought that was the Messiah, the one that we have been following all of these years,

we just watched be crucified, and now he's laying in that tomb. What are we going to do now? And so as the scene plays out, we see that the disciples have fled, the women find themselves in shock, and it feels like all hope is lost. Well, before we get to the exciting part, before we get to the good part, we have to talk about something else that takes place.

It says in verse 62, on the next day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that when he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days I am to rise again. Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal him away and say to the people, he has risen from the dead, and the last deception will be worse, than the first. Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go and make it secure as you know how.

Now I find this to be kind of interesting because the religious leaders come to Pilate the next day and they say, we think there's going to be a problem. Here's the thing. He told all of us that he was going to rise again three days later. You know who didn't hear that fact? All of the disciples, right? Remember how many times Jesus told them, listen, evil men,

they're going to take me and they're going to beat me and they're going to crucify me and I'm going to die. That part was, but then three days later, I'm going to rise again. But they never heard that part, right? It was like the Charlie Browns, they're like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. That's all they heard. But his opponents, they knew what Jesus had claimed,

that he was going to rise again the third day. After all, what had Jesus said? Tear down this temple, tear down this building, and in three days I will rise again. What had he said? They asked him, give us a sign. Remember Matthew chapter 12? Give us a sign that you're the Messiah. And he said, I'm not going to give you a sign. The only sign that I'm going to give you

is the sign of the prophet Jonah, because as the prophet Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the son of man will be in the earth three days and he will rise again. They knew the claim that he had made. And isn't it true of us sometimes that often the opponents of the gospel know more about Jesus know more about the word than the believers of the gospel? It's an unfortunate indictment on sometimes our biblical illiteracy.

And so this is what happens with these disciples. And so the religious leaders, they come to Pilate and they're like, give us a guard around the tomb. I think Pilate was worn out by this point in time. I think he's worn out with the religious leaders. He's made an enemy of all kinds of people, including himself, including his wife, right? Okay. And when you think about this, guys,

when you think about this, remember what happened with Pilate's wife? She sent a message to him, right? Remember what the message said? Have nothing to do with this righteous man. I suffered terribly in a dream because of him. Can you imagine what happened when Pilate came home that night? It was a big day, right? Big day of really bad things. His wife comes home and she goes,

so what'd you do with that Jesus guy? What'd you do with that righteous man? You didn't mess with him, did you? I told you I had a really bad dream about him. Leave him alone. And he was like, ah, it's been a bad day. Well, what happened to Jesus? I crucified him. You did what? What did I tell you? I told you he had a bad night. And now that he comes in the next morning,

he's like, I'm tired of hearing about Jesus. And here's the religious leaders singing. They're like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. Set a guard. He said he was gonna rise again. We don't want that to happen. We don't want the disciples to come and steal the body. And so he says, fine, have a guard. And if you're an underliner, I think this is a really good little spot to underline

in verse 65. It says, Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go make it as secure as you know how. In other words, you can do the best that you can. You know, I think that that's important. It's kind of an interesting statement made by a pagan man who seems to know that there's a power at work here that's greater than himself. I'm reminded of the words of Paul

when he wrote his prison epistle. And he said, you have a guard, you have a guard. Have a guard. For the gospel remains for the gospel, but the gospel remains unchained. That great, because you can try to make it as secure as you know how you can try to take every step that you can possibly take to hold down the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to hold down the resurrection power of Jesus Christ,

but you can't do it. You can make it as secure as you know how it's still it's not gonna change the power of the gospel. And so he says, go make it as secure as you know how, make it as secure as you know how. So what they did is they went, verse 66, and they made the grave secure along with the guard, which would have not been a few Roman soldiers. It would

have been a good number of Roman soldiers. They also set a seal on the stone, some sort of a wax seal, so that if the stone was moved by anyone, it would become evident and they would know that the grave had been tampered with. They took this very seriously. But now we come to chapter 28. Now we come to the resurrection. It says,

And became like dead men. The angel said to the women, He's 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 has 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 the disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and

greeted them. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped 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. It says it was early in the morning after the Sabbath day. This is Sunday. This is the first day of the week, which, by the way, brothers and sisters, is why we,

we worship on Sundays because we celebrate the risen Savior. You know, every Sunday you came up, you came in here this morning to celebrate the resurrection. I don't know if you knew that or not. It's Easter Sunday, every Sunday's Easter Sunday. And so it was the first day of the week. And it's really early in the morning toward, uh, at the dawn toward the first day of the week.

And Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the grave. Now I find this to be kind of interesting. The first two people that are going to hear the resurrection of Jesus about the victory of Jesus are a couple of women, but not just any two women. Who are these women? This is Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. They were the last ones to leave Jesus. And they were the first ones to come see him after the resurrection. I think that this

is significant for two reasons. Number one, this is significant because women were not viewed in very high esteem at this particular point in time. And they were not viewed in very high esteem at this particular point in time in history. As a matter of fact, women were not considered to be credible, uh, witnesses in a court of law. And yet who are going to be the first two that testify of

the resurrection of Jesus Christ? It's going to be two women. You see, if I was going to make up a lie, I would find credible people to spread the story for me. I would make sure that whoever was spreading the story to everybody else were people that everybody else looked and said, they're going to tell the truth. I wouldn't choose a couple of people who couldn't tell the truth. I wouldn't

testify in a court of law. And yet, because it's true, he made sure that it was people no one would suspect to be the first ones to see him, the first ones to know that he had raised from the dead. But you know, there's a second reason why I think the women get to be the first ones that see him that I think is maybe an even more significant reason. And that's because they were the last ones to leave Jesus. And they were the first ones to show up to see Jesus.

You see, we're told in the book of Hebrews that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. We're told in the book of Jeremiah that if we seek him, we'll find him when we search for him with all of our hearts. Why did these women get to be the ones to be the first ones to know that Jesus is alive? Because they diligently sought him. They were the last ones to leave him.

They were the first ones to see him. And there was a diligence. There was a, pressing need for them to go and see Jesus. Therefore, there he was. Was their diligence mildly misinformed because they didn't pay attention to other things he said? Yes. Did he reward them anyway? Absolutely. Brothers and sisters, here's what I'm saying to us as a church this morning. Diligently seek him. It's so easy for you to come on Sunday morning to hear what I

have to say about scripture and then to walk away and be content with what you receive from me. Don't do that. Now go and seek it out for yourself. Now go and diligently seek him for yourself because he's always available to reveal himself to those who will diligently seek him. And so these two women show up and while they're on their way, you can imagine the conversation on their way. There's

two problems they're going to face. Number one, there's a huge stone because what they're showing up to do according to other gospel accounts is to anoint the body of Jesus with some spices because remember he had to be buried very quickly. Therefore, all of the proper things weren't done. And so that's what they're showing up to do. So there's two problems that

they're going to face. Number one, who's going to roll the stone away because there's a large stone in front of them. Number two, undoubtedly rumors had already been swirling about the fact that a guard of Roman soldiers had been placed in front of them. They have two major obstacles that they have to overcome. How are they going to overcome those obstacles? God's like, I got you.

I got you, boo. And so it says, 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. His appearance was like lightning. His clothing is white as snow. The guard shook for fear of him and became like dead men. Somewhere in the middle of all of that is when Jesus raises from the dead. You ever noticed it never actually one time says, and this is the

moment Jesus rose from the dead. We're given the indication that it took place probably somewhere around the earthquake shortly before, shortly after whatever it was, but we know that they see him. So we know that he rose from the dead, but that statement's never made. There was a great earthquake. What was the last time that we saw an earthquake? It's in the previous chapter. What

had happened when there was an earthquake? Jesus was crucified. When he was crucified, the earth shook because he bore the sin of humanity. And when he rose from the dead, the earth shook because he had won the victory. The earth couldn't take it. It was like that much, right? When we're talking about the thing buzzing, somebody said, even the rocks cry out. I think that's the rocks crying out. I think that's them praising God that

he has overcome death. After all, we're told in the book of Romans that creation groans because of the curse of sin. I think that they were just clapping their hands when he rose from the dead. So this earthquake happens. And when the earthquake happens, it says that an angel comes down and it rolls the stone away. You ever wonder why the stone got rolled away? Well, to let Jesus out,

right? No, he didn't have to be let out, right? Because he's in a different body at this point in time. He is in a body that is not held by the things of earth. As a matter of fact, other gospel accounts tell us that the disciples are going to be gathered in an upper room later this day, the day that he rose from the dead. They're going to be gathered in an upper room

with the door closed. And Jesus appears right in the midst of them because he's not bound by the physical things that we're bound by on this earth. They didn't roll the stone away so that Jesus could get out. They rolled the stone away so that the disciples could get in so that these women could get in to prove that Jesus is who he says he is to prove that he is alive. And so this angel rolls the stone away. And as the angel rolls the stone away, it says that

the soldiers tells us it appeared two different ways, or there's two different descriptions of its appearance given to us. Number one, it was like a flash of lightning. Number two, it was clothed in pure white and amazing. What an amazing scene. And what happens to the soldiers? So the first problem solved, the angel rolled the stone away. Second problem is about to be solved because

notice what it says. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The word shook means to tremble violently. In other words, they were freaking out at the side of this angel. Now I want to point out to you the same thing I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, that these soldiers are hardened warriors. These are men. These are probably some of the same men that

were sitting at the feet of Jesus while his blood was dripping down in front of them. And they're playing poker for his clothes. These are probably the same guys. This is not their first rodeo. These men have seen war. And yet all it took was one angel, one angel to de-cleat all of them, because it says that they began to shake violently, tremble violently. And then it says that they became like dead men.

In other words, they all passed out all over the ground. And then notice who's still there. There's the angel perched up on top of the stone, just waiting for him to show up. Says verse five, the angel said to the women, be afraid. I know that you're looking for Jesus who's been crucified. He's not here for he has risen just as he said. So these women show up and as they show up, can you imagine the scene?

Soldiers all over the ground, stone rolled away from the front of the tomb, angel sitting on the stone. Now what happened to the soldiers when they saw the angel? Right? They all pass out. What happens to the women? Nothing, dude. They're just a little freaked out. That's all. I find that interesting. I find that kind of crazy that the women are just like, but they totally keep their wits about them anyway. So they show up and what's the first

thing the angel says? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Cause that would have been a startling scene all the way around that they come upon. He says, don't be afraid. He says, you're here looking for Jesus who's been crucified. You're looking for something, but that's not what you're going to find. He says, I know what you're looking for. You're looking for Jesus who's been

crucified. He's not here because he has risen. And I love this last little part that he throws on there. Just as he said, what a victorious moment for these women. What a, what an amazing moment for them. So much to take in. Can you imagine how long it took them to absorb all of this? Everything about what they've just seen, not only in the past 72 hours, but in the last two

minutes, everything that they'd seen and they have to try to absorb all of this. And so he says, don't be afraid. I know you're looking for the one that was crucified. I know you're looking for your dead savior, but he's not here. He's risen. And may I say, sometimes we're just like these women. We forget the power that Jesus has and we're expecting a defeated God. We may not ever

say that out loud. We're like, no, Ryan, I believe in a living savior. Really? Then why do you still deal with the things that you deal with? It's because many of us are just still like these women. We're looking for a crucified savior, forgetting that he is already risen, forgetting that his power is greater than anything that we face. He says, he's not here for he's risen,

just as he said, see the place where he was lying. I love this because he doesn't just want them to believe his word. He doesn't just want them to believe his word. He doesn't just want them to believe his word. He doesn't just want them to believe his word. He doesn't just want them to believe the statement. He says, I want you to go and look for yourselves. Can you imagine what it would have

been like? From all indication, and I could be wrong on this, I'm willing to be corrected. For all indication, all the soldiers are still laying there, right? It appears as though all of this just happened. So can you imagine what it was like for the women? They're all still there and they walk in. Can you imagine the maybe trepidation, I guess, is the word you'd use as

you walk in? Like, is this really real? Is this for real as I walk in? And as they walked in, you remember the scene that they saw? They saw the grave clothes of Jesus in the same shape of his body, only deflated as if he was sort of lifted out of there. The cloth that had covered his face was folded neatly and laid at the head of the cloths. Sidebar parents, I think we can use this

with our kids to say, see that laundry? What would Jesus do? He'd fold it. Anyway, so that's what they go in and see. They see this scene of this empty tomb. They come and see, but then notice what he says, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he's going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. There's an interesting progression of words that

are used here, amen? When he says, come and see, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he's going ahead and tell. I think that there's something there for us to pay attention to. And that's that he has given them his word. He's given them what God has told them to give. He's not here. He's risen. But now you come and see for yourself. I mentioned it earlier and I'll say it again. We should not

settle for what A.W. Tozer calls a Sunday hand-me-down. You come here this morning and that's wonderful. I want you to be here. I want you to hear God's word, but this should not be the ending of you hearing God's word this week. This should be the beginning of you hearing God's word this week. This is not the only thing that you should receive. It should be in the process of everything

that you receive. My goal is that it will create in you a hunger for you to dig deeper into God's word. And as I tell you this, Jesus is alive. I tell you the same thing that the angel said, come and see, because it's written all over the pages of scripture and he's bearing witness to it every day with the power of the Holy Spirit. And he wants you to come and see. But once you

come and see, you're going to see the power of the Holy Spirit. And he wants you to come and see. He wants you to go and tell. We'll talk about that more next week when we talk about the Great Commission. But he tells them, come and see, and then go and tell. That's the message that the angel gives. And so what do they do? Verse eight, they obey. 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. They came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped 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. What a beautiful moment for these ladies. They're on their way to go tell the disciples. They've seen the

evidence. They know it's true. But now Jesus takes them deeper into the throne room. He takes them deeper into their understanding and knowledge of him because there's Jesus. And what's the first thing that they did? The first thing we're going to do when we see the risen Savior, they fell down on his feet and they worshiped him. You know what the first thing that they would have seen when they fell down on his

feet was? Scars. They would have been able to see those nail pierced scars in the feet of Jesus and went, yep, that's really him. And they worshiped him. Because what do you do when you see the risen Savior? What do you do when you see the risen Savior? You see the risen Savior. You see the living God. All you can do is fall down and worship. So they fell down and they worshiped him and

notice what Jesus said. He told them, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Go tell my, tell my brethren, take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee. They will see me. What a wonderful moment for these women who had been so faithful to Jesus. Well, Matthew now goes on to tell us about a little conspiracy. Notice what happens in verse 11. It says, now, while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city

and reported to the chief priests 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 to his disciples, or 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. Interesting

little conspiracy that comes up here, right? Well, well, conspiracy, this may be not so much theory. So these soldiers are going, what are we going to do now? This is bad. We better go tell the chief priests and the elders what happened because this is bad for all of us. And so that's what they do. They go in and they tell the chief priests and the elders, listen, this is what happened. An angel

shows up. We pass out. Body's gone. I don't know if they took it. I don't know what happened. All I know is nobody were in trouble. And they're like, it's okay. It's okay. We'll give you a large sum of money to hide that laptop. And, um, that's not what they said at all. He said, we'll give you a large sum of money for you to tell a different story. And if the governor ever gives you an

issue, don't worry. We've got your back. The story that they were to tell was such a ridiculous story. You, you fell asleep. And when you fell asleep, the disciples came and stole the body. I mean, that's what happened. There's a lot of holes in this story, but I'm going to point to you, point out to you, what are the three main holes that I see in this story? Number one,

when Roman soldiers were on guard, they were never supposed to all be asleep at the same time. There was always to be a watch that that kept watch during the night. So that was, that was illegal. It was against protocol. And if there was anything that Roman soldiers held in high regard, it was protocol. Number two, if they were asleep, how would they know it was the disciples? Like that, that one doesn't make

much sense to me either. But then the third one, and I think it's the most damning of all of the holes in the story. And that's that if a Roman soldier failed to do his job, it was punishable by death. Do you remember the story of the Philippian jailer in the book of Acts there, Paul and Silas were in jail and in, in Philippi, and they'd been beaten so bad that they couldn't sleep. And so

as they're in the stocks, they're just singing praises to God in the middle of the night. And as they're singing praises to God, another, well, another earthquake happened and it not only broke the stocks off of them, but it broke open the prison doors. And do you remember what the Philippian jailer was about to do? He was about to kill himself. He was about to turn the sword

on himself. Why? Because he did. Not want to face the trial and the death that the Romans would bring to him because he'd lost all of his prisoners. Everything about this story is ridiculous, but that's what the world comes up with when they try to discredit the message of the gospel. And so it says they took the money and did as they'd been instructed. And this story was widely spread amongst the Jews,

even to the day in which Matthew was living. That's a pretty impressive conspiracy that had been, spread around amongst the people. And so we saw this resurrection power of Jesus. We saw him appear to the women and told to go tell the disciples. And we'll talk about his conversation with the disciples and the commission that they give next week. But for the last 15 or 20 minutes,

while we're here this morning, I want to talk to you about the victory. As I mentioned in my little opening, oftentimes we don't spend very much time talking about the resurrection and what the resurrection is. We don't spend very much time talking about the resurrection and what the resurrection means for us. As a matter of fact, I would say that there was a point in time in my life where I said, Lord, why do I care that you rose from the dead? I don't want you to get me

wrong. I know it was important, but I don't know that I fully grasped the spiritual significance of the resurrection. So I started praying, Lord, show me the significance of the fact that you are alive. What does that mean for me in my walk today? And so there's a lot of points that God gave to me, but I've summed it up to these five. And so I've labeled this section, the victory,

because that's exactly what this is. Jesus was victorious over death. And since Jesus was victorious over death, you and I have victory in our lives. And because we have victory in our lives through Jesus, this is what it means for us. Number one, it proved that he was the son of God. I know I've made this point before, but you can't make this point enough. In Romans chapter

one, verse four, it says that he was shown to be the son of God with power when God raised him from the dead. Remember the sign that they wanted from him. Prove to us that you're the Messiah. Give us a sign. And he said, I won't give you a sign. The only sign I'll give you is the sign of the prophet Jonah. And as Jonah was in the belly of the fish those three days, so will the son of man and the son

of man will rise again. Jesus made so many claims while he was on earth. One of which is that he was God. Remember why they got so upset with him? Because you make yourself equal with God. And had he not risen from the dead, they would have had every reason to discredit everything that he had to say. Because if you lie about one thing, you're probably lying about

everything. And yet when Jesus rose from the dead, it proved everything that he had to say, because it proved him to be the son of God. As he's walking around, everybody's going, well, it must be true because he said he'd give us one sign to prove who he is. And he kept that promise. We tore down the temple and in three days it was raised up again. It proved him to be the son of

God. Number two, the victory that we have is that the sacrifice for sin was accepted. The sacrifice for sin was accepted. In Romans chapter four, verse 25, it says this. He was delivered over for our transgressions. But he was raised again for our justification. That word justification is so key in our walks with Jesus Christ. Justification comes from the root word justified. And if you were to break

that down in a true theological understanding, it means just as if I'd never sinned because that's what happens to us as believers in Jesus Christ when we're covered in the blood of Jesus is that it justifies us, but it's not justified simply because he died because a lot of people have died. A lot of religious leaders have died over the years, but only one of them came back to life. Only one of them was resurrected and that's Jesus. And that proves that you and I are no longer in our sins. Do you remember what Jesus said from the cross? We talked about it a couple of weeks ago.

He cried out, it is finished, paid in full. Well, when he died on the cross, he paid it in full. And when he rose from the dead, that was the receipt. Your sins have been forgiven. It's no longer something that you deal with. It's no longer something that you live in. And for somebody like me who is so prone to sin, it is such a blessing to know that all of those sins that I used to wear

on me, like a guilty coat that held me down, they're not mine anymore because they were laid on Jesus at the cross. And when they were laid on Jesus at the cross, they were 100% dealt with. And I know that they were 100% dealt with. Because he's alive. He was raised for our justification and we can find great hope in that. As a matter of fact, Paul, when he wrote first Corinthians chapter 15, people were saying,

there's no resurrection. And Paul said, if there's no resurrection, then Jesus isn't alive. And if Jesus isn't alive, you're still in your sins. And if you're still in your sins, then we are of all people, the most without hope. Nevertheless, Jesus is alive, which means that sin is no longer what identifies me. I'm now identified with my Savior because the sacrifice for sin was accepted. Number three, it means that we have a living

high priest. I won't take you too many places in the scripture, but I do want you to go over to Hebrews chapter seven, Hebrews chapter seven. And I want you to look at verse 24, verses 24 and 25. It says, but Jesus, on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him.

Why? Since he always lives to make intercession for them. You see, the salvation that you and I have is not a temporary salvation. It's not just a, well, I'm saved today, but I don't know about that. It's a temporary salvation. It's a temporary salvation. It's a temporary salvation. No, it tells us that since he is a priest forever, he is able to save forever those who come to him.

Why? Because he always lives to make intercession for us because he is always interceding on our behalf. An intercessor is one who goes before another on behalf of you. That's who you have. It's an advocate, a defense lawyer, if you will, because the enemy, as we've mentioned before, is always accusing you. And the problem with the accusations that the enemy makes against you is he's right. Those are all true. He can point to all kinds of things in

you that are wrong. And so what am I going to do? How can Jesus save me forever if he can still point out, if the enemy can still point out the sin that I feel like sometimes so marks me? We see, I have an intercessor who is alive. I have an advocate, a high priest. You see, the job of the high priest was not only to represent God to the people, but to represent the people to God.

And the living high priest is the one who represents the people to God. And the living high priest is you have stands before the father and says, while those accusations may be true, he belongs to me and he will forever. Because after all, what did Jesus tell us in the book of John? He says, my sheep are in my hand. I never lose them. He's able to say forever because we have a living high

priest who is always making intercession for us. That gives us security forever. Number four, it means that we have power for Christian living. Power for Christian living. People come to me and they want to know, how can I live the life that God wants me to live? Sometimes it's so difficult to obey. It's difficult to live in obedience to the Lord. How can I do so? And I tell them the same thing I have to remind myself of all the time.

You do it through the power of Jesus Christ flowing through you. It tells us in Romans, chapter six, verse four, that we were united with him in his death. And as he was raised, we were raised with him that we can walk in newness of life. We were raised with Christ through faith. And as we were, we can now walk with him in the newness of life because there's

brand new life coursing through us because he lives. And in Romans chapter eight, verse 11, it says, he who raised Christ from the dead is giving life to your mortal, body. You probably ask yourself, how does he do that? How does he give life to our mortal body? He does it through the power of the Holy Spirit that flows through us. See, because Jesus lives, you and I can have the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

And as the Holy Spirit living is living inside of us, he gives us everything that we need. A few weeks ago, January 1st, I taught a message in here. And at the end of it, I said, the only way that we can do this is through the power of the Holy Spirit. And if you want to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to live as God wants you to live, I want you to stand up and I want to pray for you that you can be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. And

almost everybody in the sanctuary stood up. It was a beautiful moment of people crying out for the power of the Holy Spirit. But here's the thing. Seeking that power of the Holy Spirit that comes because of the risen Christ is not a once done thing. It's something that you have to do over and over and over again. You have to continue to come to him. You have to continue to

we're told in scripture to be being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. So the same way that you stood up and said, I need the power of the Holy Spirit to obey God and live a life of obedience on January 1st, the same is true on January 22nd. You still have to stand up and say, I need the power of the Holy Spirit to obey and live. And you know what will happen? The same power that

raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies and give you everything that you need to live for him. Because he lives, we have the power to live the Christian life. And then number five, because he lives, death has been conquered and we have hope beyond this life. I want you to go one more place in scripture with me. Go over to 2 Corinthians and I want you to

look at chapter four. 2 Corinthians chapter four. I want you to look down at verse 14. 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse 14 says this, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. I took note of something early on in the burial process of Jesus. And that's the verbiage that was used when Joseph of Arimathea went

in. He asked for the body because Matthew referred to the corpse of Jesus as it. He didn't say him. He said he came to get the body and it was delivered to him and it was taken and wrapped in cloth and it was put into the tomb. Why that lack of personal language used there when referring to the body of Jesus? Because the body of Jesus was just that. It was just a body. Because the

real Jesus was waiting for the body of Jesus. And it was just that. It was just a body. He was waiting for the resurrected body that he would have because he is the first fruits of the resurrection. And brothers and sisters, we can know that because Jesus lives, death has been conquered and we have hope. We have hope because this place is not our home. These bodies are not

our home. You know what? Just jump down real quick to verse 16 of chapter four in 2 Corinthians because I love this. It says, therefore, we don't lose heart. Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. As most of you know, a good friend that we've all known for a very, very long time went home to be with Jesus this week. And that's hard

on this side of eternity, because all we can think about is how much it hurts for us. But the blessing is this, Steve's not in that old body anymore. He's not dealing with cancer anymore. He didn't deal with AFib anymore. God bless him, the man can hear with both ears now, right? And it is such a beautiful thing. But the reason why we can have that hope, the reason why we can hold on to that as an anchor for our soul,

is because we know that Jesus lives, and we know that he'll take him home, and one day we'll see him again. When I got the call Friday evening, I said, I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. I'm going to go to the church. About Steve, I kind of started getting myself around a little bit, because I hadn't been over there that day. I was over there the night before, and kind of getting myself around,

putting my shoes on, and I looked at my wife, and kind of had to gather myself just a little bit. I had to take a go at this statement three times before I could get through it without crying. But I said, you know what I wonder? I wonder how long it took him to go find Mark. That was all I could think of at that point in time, because it's the hope that we have

brothers and sisters. Death is something that the world is so scared of right now. Death is something everybody's trying to fight against. For the believer, death is the greatest translation that will ever take place in our lives. As we leave behind these bodies and move into that eternal home that God has for us in his time, and we can find great rest and assurance, we can find great peace and mourn,

not as those with no hope, because Jesus lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone, and I know who holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, what a beautiful thing to speak of the resurrection of Jesus, what a beautiful thing to know and understand that you have conquered everything that we deal

with. Everything that we face has already been conquered in you. And so, Lord, may we find our rest in you this week. May we find our assurance in you this week. And Lord, may we, like those ladies, not be content with the word of another, but go and see for ourselves just who you are and the power of the gospel that you want to work in us. Lord, I just ask for your blessing on everything that's happened here this morning. Lord, that you

would use your word powerfully in the lives of people and draw us close to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

My soul, my Savior God, to thee. Great you truly are, Lord. God, on that day, Lord, we can be in your presence and just shout how great you truly are, Lord. How awesome a day is that going to be? Lord, we look forward to it with expectant and expectant hearts, Lord. And God, we just look forward. so that we can be with you. Father, I just pray that as we leave here today,

I pray that your Holy Spirit go with us, Lord, and just encourage us in you. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a great week. God bless you.