In the sermon 'Alive Forevermore!' delivered by Jason Dohm, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is highlighted as a pivotal event in the Gospel. The sermon recounts the events following the Sabbath when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary visit Jesus' tomb only to find it empty due to His resurrection. An angel informs them that Jesus has risen, prompting them to spread the news to the disciples. The sermon emphasizes the resurrection's necessity in the Gospel narrative, arguing that it is as critical as the crucifixion. It discusses different reactions to the resurrection—where the guards are paralyzed with fear, the women are filled with joy and devotion. Jesus' tender reference to his disciples as 'brethren' signifies his continuous love and forgiveness. The sermon calls believers to elevate the resurrection in their faith, viewing it as a source of joy, hope, and holy boldness. It underscores that the resurrection confirms Jesus as the Son of God and assures believers of a bodily resurrection and victory over death. Finally, it encourages the faithful to live fearlessly, assured of their incorruptible inheritance through Christ's resurrection.

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. And the guard shook for fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, for he is risen as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold I have told you." So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples' word.

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, rejoice. So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him Then Jesus said to them do not be afraid Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me. Oh great God, oh great Savior, oh great Holy Spirit, thank you. Thank you that you didn't remain in the grave. Thank you that you rose, that you conquered sin and death, that you have given us hope through your resurrection.

Thank you that you told us to rejoice, that you gave us these great reasons to rejoice through your Son, through you Jesus Christ and your salvation. Holy Spirit, please bless Jason the preaching of your word. Oh please let him boldly speak only truth. Let him be filled with your spirit to speak the truth in whichever way you lead him. Thank you for his preparation and God please, please Holy Spirit bless us with wide open ears, wide open eyes, wide open hearts to receive the truth of your word.

That we would repent over anything, that we would praise you, and that we would rejoice in worshiping you through the preaching of your word. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well happy Easter. It's almost like getting a second Easter Sunday when you get the resurrection text. I just love having a second and now third Sunday for me because I was preaching the same text.

I hope last week we get all the resurrection hymns again and I could sing them every week. I love it. So the title of the sermon is, Alive Forevermore. And the topic of the sermon is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel hinges on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you don't have a Jesus raised from the dead, then you don't even have a gospel to celebrate. But Jesus has been raised from the dead, just as He said. He is alive and He's alive forevermore. And He sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede for His people. So there's so much in this text to rejoice over.

I hope you leave the sermon today and the service today just happy in Jesus, because He's alive and He's interceding for His people. And there are many wonderful implications that flow from the resurrection, that are entirely to our benefit. When we last left off in the text, Jesus was dead. And the Roman soldiers had made sure that he was dead by piercing his side with a spear and there's an outflow of blood and of water and he's removed from the cross and This man that we've never been introduced to before and we'll never see again Joseph of Arimathea is bold and he goes to Pilate and he asks for the body of Jesus and it's granted to him. And Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the Mary of James and Joseph, watch where Jesus is buried.

They want to know exactly where his body is going to be laid because they have plans for his body. They want to honor the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ and they want to minister to that body. So in Matthew it says that they are sitting opposite the tomb and they're observing where he's buried. Now the chief priests and the Pharisees are paranoid because of something that Jesus has repeatedly taught and that's that he won't stay dead. And they're paranoid that there's going to be deceit and sleight of hand and that the disciples will come and they'll take his body away and since he had said he was going to raise from the dead.

When his disciples take his body away, that people will think that Jesus was actually the Christ. And their paranoia causes them to go to Pilate also and to ask for the tomb to be secured and he puts them at liberty to secure the tomb with their own guard, which they do. So they post a guard in order to secure the tomb. So that is the text of Matthew that we're coming out of. The text in Mark is almost identical to that.

The text in Luke actually has some different things leading into the resurrection text. In Luke, the women observe the tomb like in Matthew And then they return immediately and they prepare spices and fragrant oils. So this is what they are up to. This is what the women have in mind. That when they are able they will be able to return to the tomb and they will be able to minister to honor the body of the dead Lord Jesus Christ.

And in Luke, they are making ready for this by preparing spices and fragrant oils. And then Luke says that they rest on the Sabbath day. They honor the Sabbath. They keep the Sabbath holy. But they are waiting for that moment where they will be at liberty to come and honor the body of Jesus Christ.

In John, we see something amazing. It's Nicodemus, this ruler of the Jews and this Pharisee who comes to Jesus under cover of darkness in John 3, who Jesus instructs and says you must be born again. This same Nicodemus is with Joseph of Arimathea and they have with them 100 pounds of myrrh and aloe and they are taking the strips of linen and they are using the myrrh and aloe to bind the body of Jesus Christ as is the custom of Jews with dead bodies. So just imagine this picture, these two men, these two prominent Jewish men who really you would think have no business at the tomb of Jesus Christ are there preparing his body with a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloe. In all of the Gospel accounts we have something.

We have acts of devotion towards the Lord Jesus and towards His dead body. But in all of them it's so clear that in the minds of even His disciples the ride is over. There's no sense at all that there's an expectation of Jesus rising from the dead. Even though we can go back in the book of Matthew and say, he said he was going to rise here, he said he was going to rise here, he said he was going to rise here, He said he was going to rise here. He said he was going to rise here.

But when we come to the actual text, and Jesus has died, there's no inkling that there's an expectation on the part of his disciples that he's going to rise from the dead. So they're devoted. They want to honor his body. They want to minister to him because of the love that they have for him, but they're not expecting him to rise from the dead. So here are these two men who have a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloe and they're preparing for Jesus to be dead for a long, long time, not just three days.

Now we come to the resurrection text. And I'm delighted. It's so needful that this church, that these hearers of the sermon today come to the resurrection text for a couple of reasons. One, reason number one is, hasn't it been difficult to be in these texts that lead here, to see how Jesus was mistreated, even though we know how precious he is, how full of truth he is, how if anybody in the history of the world never deserved to be treated like that, it was the Lord Jesus Christ. So there is a sense in which it has been very painful to work through these texts because Jesus Christ is our most precious possession for those of us who have been set free from our sins and to watch him be treated like this, to be spit on, to have a crown of thorns struck again and again and again by a reed, to be nailed to a cross, to be mocked and despised by men has been difficult.

So now it's just like a breath of fresh air to come to the resurrection text and to see that He is alive, that the grave could not hold him. So that's the first reason. But the second reason is actually probably more important and it's this. The resurrection is not top of mind enough for the people of God. No way, no how, not even close.

The resurrection needs to be so much more top of mind for us than it is. Now the cross is top of mind for the people of God. And it ought to be. It's good that it is. It's beautiful that the people of God frequently think about Jesus' death and his work on the cross.

So I'm not trying to pull down the cross. I'm trying to raise up, to elevate the resurrection to the place that Scripture gives it. Resurrection deserves a place of equality with the cross of Jesus Christ. It's every bit as instrumental to the Gospel as is the cross. So today my big objective is just to raise up the resurrection of Jesus Christ and to put it on an even plane with the cross as we think about the gospel.

I get to do lots of interviews for baptisms or for church membership. And one of the things that we do in baptism interviews and in church membership interviews is we ask just for an explanation of the gospel. What we're trying to do there is to make sure there's not a fuzzy understanding of the gospel in the minds of anyone who wants to be baptized or anyone who wants to be a church member. There is clarity on the Gospel. And the thing that always gets missed is the resurrection.

People talk about substitutionary atonement, people talk about the cross, People talk about the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, all appropriate, but almost always the resurrection gets left off. Why is that? Is that because that is an accurate representation of the gospel that was preached by the apostles in no way. When you go and you look at the book of Acts, you go and look at the epistles, the resurrection is everywhere. I challenge you to just go do a word search on resurrection And then just start in Acts 1 and read all the way to the end of the Bible, everywhere where resurrection is.

The apostles were preaching the resurrection. That was their gospel. And of course the cross is tied up in that. But This is the gospel that they were preaching. They were preaching a gospel of a resurrected Jesus Christ.

Of a Jesus Christ who had victory over the grave and who was raised from the dead and who was at the right hand of the Father. A present reality Jesus is the Gospel that's preached in the book of Acts and in the epistles. And so in the sense that the resurrection is not top of mind enough for the people of God. We are disconnected from the Gospel writers, from the rest of the authors of the New Testament, from God Almighty. We are disconnected from Him because the resurrection is so central, so vital, so non-negotiable to the Gospel that was preached by the apostles.

Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 6 verses 1 and 2. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. So when the writer of Hebrews is speaking of the elementary principles of Christ, the ground floor, the foundational things of the Gospel, and he says, let's let these things be steadfastly, immovably established so that we can go on and build on those things. Let's not lay again that foundation. Let's move on to the things that ought to be built on that.

And he talks about the ground floor and the foundations, the elementary principles of Christ. He puts the resurrection right in there with repentance and faith and eternal judgment. Do you see that? It's an elementary principle of Christ. The resurrection is of vital importance and my objective today is just to raise our sensitivity and awareness of the centrality and the non-negotiable nature of the resurrection.

Here's what Paul says in 1st Timothy, excuse me, 1st Corinthians 15. Paul says if there is no resurrection, you're still in your sins. That's how central it is to the gospel. That's how vital it is. That's how non-negotiable it is.

Paul says if this didn't happen, you're still in your sins. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. I propose to speak about three things today in the rest of our time. The first thing will be the harmonizing of the Gospel accounts. Each of the Gospel writers has a resurrection text and they need to be harmonized so that we understand how they fit together.

Secondly, I want to do what I do every week, which is to give an exposition, a verse by verse exposition, of dividing today's text into two sections and taking them independently and talking about what they mean and how they fit with the rest of scripture. And then thirdly, I'm going to end talking about the implications for the people of God of the resurrection. It's my favorite part of the sermon. We're going to talk about what it means to those who are in Christ, who have been joined to Christ, what the resurrection means. And there are some wonderful things in there.

Okay, let's begin with harmonizing the Gospel accounts. This text, the work of harmonizing is really difficult work. There have been two or three or four times in the last almost two and a half years as we've been in Matthew that when you bring the different gospel accounts and you put them side by side, it makes the expositor bite his fingernails and wonder what in the world he's going to say on Sunday and how he's going to preserve the integrity of each gospel account and not pit them against one another. This is one of those texts. When you put the account side by side, you think, how am I going to preach this in a way that does not pit Matthew against John, for example?

That's the big challenge this week. It's harmonizing Matthew and John. And so it was difficult work this week. Here's where we always start in harmonizing gospel accounts or any accounts, any two accounts in the Bible or more. We start here, they're true.

They're true. So take a deep breath. Do not panic. They're all true. Down to the dot of the I and the cross of the T.

Every single bit of it is true. So we start there, it's true. And there is a way to preserve the integrity of the truth of each account or each text and have them live together in harmony without one compromising the truth of the other. And the more I stood in these texts, the more I could see, okay. It really is so, again, this time, for the hundredth time in Matthew, it's true.

We can bring all the accounts, and if we're careful, and if we're systematic in our analysis of the text, they really are able to be harmonized so that the truth of every single one of these gospel accounts can live together peacefully with the other accounts. Here's a key question when you're harmonizing accounts or different texts. What does the text require? You always have to start here. What does the text require?

Not what could the text mean. Because every text in isolation could mean a number of things. Two, three, four, five things could mean by itself in isolation, but texts don't exist that way. They have a context and they have the greater context of the entire Bible. So you start with what does the text require?

In other words, What does this text have to mean? What could I, even if I had a whole week to stare at these ten verses, what would it be impossible to wiggle out of? You start there and it begins to set the boundaries for your interpretation of any passage and for harmonizing. What does each text absolutely require so that I can never wiggle out of it? If I was given a hundred lifetimes, I couldn't wiggle out of these truths because the text is so plain spoken of it.

Here's what we learn in looking at the account in John 20 verses 1 through 18. We learn that that text requires two things. Well, at least two things. It requires that Mary Magdalene makes two trips to the tomb, not one. Requires it.

No way to wiggle out of it in John 20. Mary Magdalene makes two trips to the tomb. And it also requires, no way to wiggle out of it, that Mary Magdalene brings two reports from the tomb. The first time to Peter and John, the second time to all of the disciples. And so you don't get this in Matthew, but John requires it, so you know that's true when you begin to handle the Matthew text.

You know that Matthew has compressed. Have we ever seen Matthew compressed before? When have we not seen Matthew compressed? He's very selective about what he picks from the circumstances that he's relating because he, as an inspired gospel writer, has specific objectives that he's working to achieve. And not every fact serves his objectives, so he leaves things out so that the Gospel of Matthew is this and not this.

So it's half an inch thick and not two feet thick. If Matthew says everything he knows about this three years of living with Jesus and hearing his sermons and seeing him relate to other people, His gospel is a foot thick. The inspired author of the gospel of Matthew isn't going to have it be a foot thick, it's going to be a half an inch thick. So he's always picking and choosing based on the inspired objectives that he has as a gospel writer. So two trips for Mary Magdalene, two reports, two separate reports.

So when we come to our text in Matthew now, we're using this as an established truth because John 20 requires that. Okay, now let's look at our text in Matthew. And I'd like to begin with the portion of the text that speaks of the women and the guards which have a very different experience with an angel. They both encounter this angel, but their experiences are extremely different. The guards themselves are paralyzed and the women are comforted, and then they're given instructions.

So let's begin by reading verses 1-7 and then considering these verses in detail. Matthew 28 verse 1, Now after the Sabbath, As the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

But the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and indeed he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you.

Verse 1 sets the stage for this section. The Sabbath has passed and it's the first day of the week and Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and Mark chapter 16 verse 1 adds in Salome. Salome is here as well. And they go to the tomb. And they're going to minister to the body of Jesus.

You remember I said in the account of Luke that they prepared spices and fragrant oils and they're going to come and continue preparing the body of Jesus Christ for A long death, not a three day death. You don't come with the oils and spices if you think that this dead body is not going to be dead much longer. And so they come to minister to the body of Jesus. So Jesus is dead, but a devotion to Jesus is alive and well. Consider these women.

Consider they were at the cross where only one disciple is there. John is there. But there's no mention of any of the other disciples are there. But these women are there. Consider the burial of his body.

There's no talk of any of the eleven being there. Just the most unlikely men in the world. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are there, but the disciples aren't there. And these women are there. And now they're back at the tomb.

None of the disciples are coming, but these women are coming. They love Jesus Christ. And they're devoted to Him. Even if He's dead, they're devoted to Him. Why is that?

Because He has had mercy. He has had mercy. The one name that is common to all the Gospel accounts is Mary Magdalene. This woman who was set free from the demon possession. Seven demons were cast out of this woman by Jesus Christ.

And so she's been forgiven much by Jesus and so she loves Him much. And so when it's time to minister to the dead body of Jesus, count her in. She's devoted to Jesus Christ, even in his death. Now think about our when if you're Southern you're Christian. And everyone professes the name of Jesus Christ until it's inconvenient, until There's ridicule for it.

And then the professors of Christ just fade into the background. They're nowhere to be found. Why is that? Why is that? Well, these professors of Christ haven't been forgiven much and so they don't love much.

And it will be fatal to many souls who professed Christ and were never His. And they don't think of themselves as having a great debt because the weight of their sins have never been pressed upon their soul. So there's no real gratitude And there's no real devotion to Jesus because they've never been shown how many and how great their sins against a holy God are. And So freedom from that seems like nothing to them. And so there's unbelievers, but I just want to say that this is a malady in the soul of the people of God too.

It's not just unbelievers that this speaks to. That this speaks to. It's a sickness in the soul of believers too that lose a sense of how kind Jesus Christ has been to them. In setting them free from the penalty of their sins. And they forget, they become drowsy to how good Jesus has been.

How full of mercy He's been to set them free from their sins so they don't love much. So there's no debt in their mind and there's no devotion. And they're not like Mary Magdalene who can be found at the foot of the cross, who can be found at his burial, who can be found at his tomb on the day that he was raised from the dead. Because they have such a sense of how kind Jesus has been to them. Brothers and sisters, may this not be the malady of our souls.

Though it is an affliction for many members, even of the people of God, may this not be an affliction for us. May our sins, may the weight of our sins be before us. Why? So that we can wallow in it? No.

Not so that we can wallow in it. So we can be filled with joy at having been set free. So that we can think about our sins like God thinks about our sins not as a small thing that is nothing to be set free from but as a crushing weight That when you're set free from it, you know you have a debt to pay. And you're so filled with thankfulness for the rest of your days that you'll live to His glory and it will seem like nothing to you. Being a living sacrifice will seem like a reasonable service to you.

This is the faith of the New Testament where because of the mercies of God, being a living sacrifice, laying down all for Christ seems like nothing because He set you free. And so a wholehearted devotion from Christ is just a natural outflowing. It's not something we have to gin up in our lives. It just flows from knowing how great our sins are, how great the mercy of God has been towards us. Now when we read this portion of Matthew 28, we see three things recorded and it reads in Matthew like they're happening simultaneously, But the text does not require that.

Remember when we're merging the Gospel accounts, the question we're starting with is, what does the text require? And when you carefully look at this text, it does not require that these three things are happening simultaneously. What are these three things? Number one, the earthquake and the angel descending from heaven and rolling away the stone and sitting on it, just perching up on that stone. That's in verse two.

And in verse three it says, His countenance was like lightning, and His clothes were as white as snow. The second thing that's mentioned is in verse 4, it's the impact this has on the guards. They are completely paralyzed by fear. They're made like dead men. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

This is verse 4. And the third thing that happens is in verses 5 through 7 It records what he says to the women that he declares that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and he gives them instructions. Now the starting point for understanding this, you want to have insight into what's happening here and the sequence in which they're happening, you start in John 20. And in John 20, verse 1, Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb while it is still dark and she finds that the stone has been rolled away. And she runs to tell Peter and John that the tomb is unsealed and that Jesus' body is not there.

John and Peter race to the tomb. John gets there first and he looks in and Peter gets there second and he goes right by John right into the tomb and they find that the grave cloths are just laying on the ground and that the napkin, the handkerchief that had covered his head was just laying folded neatly in another location. So the day before, The linen cloths had bound the body of Jesus with a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloe. So this isn't just jeans or a robe coming off. This is linen, strips of linen that have been applied to the dead body of Jesus Christ with 100 pounds of myrrh and aloe.

And so this is miraculous. This is not the work of grave robbers. Grave robbers don't fold the handkerchief up neatly and put it in a corner. They're concerned with speed, right? Get in, get out.

This is not the work of grave robbers. This is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Peter and John see this. They're perplexed. In this section of John 20, there's no angel, there's no explanation.

There's just an empty tomb with grave cloths and a handkerchief that was over his head folded neatly in the corner. And they're left to draw their own conclusions. And it says in John 20 that they leave, they're puzzled and they leave. So Peter and John have come, they've seen, they've not seen an angel, it's not been explained to them, and they leave perplexed. Mary Magdalene doesn't leave.

She comes to the tomb a second time and she's weeping outside the tomb This is what John 20 says Mary is there again for the second time. And she's weeping outside the tomb. And no doubt the other women are there. This brings us into our text in Matthew where Mary is outside the tomb and she's weeping. Not knowing that Jesus is raised from the dead.

Now Matthew tells us how the large stone came to be removed. Remember They sealed the tomb. And so there are two barriers to witnesses of the resurrection. One of those two barriers, a big rock and a detail of soldiers, a guard that has been posted. And in Mark 16, we see that the women coming to the tomb are worried about what they're going to do about this big rock.

They don't know. They don't have a plan with how they're going to deal with the big rock. But when they come, they find that it has been removed. So there are two barriers to witnesses of the resurrection. The first is the stone.

The second is the soldiers. And Matthew, the Gospel writer, is the one that tells us how this came to be that the stone was removed. Mark doesn't, Luke doesn't, John doesn't. Matthew tells us what happens. It's an angel descending from heaven.

And it must be said, it must be said, that the angel doesn't descend from heaven because Jesus needs a way out of the tomb. This is a different Jesus than the Jesus on the cross. This isn't the crucified Jesus, this is the glorified Jesus. This is the resurrected Jesus. In John chapter 20 verse 19, that's subsequent to our text today.

It's after this text. It's going to give an account of the disciples being assembled together. The doors are shut and then all of a sudden Jesus is just in their midst. So walls are not going to be a problem for the resurrected Jesus. And Jesus doesn't need the angel to come and unseal the tomb and move the rock so that he can get out.

He needs that happen so that people can actually get in. And God is testifying through signs and wonders to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That explains the angel descending from heaven, and the earthquake, and this angel rolling away the tomb and just perching up there on this stone. God is testifying with signs and wonders that he has raised his son, Jesus Christ, from the dead. God is forcing people to pay attention Through the earthquake and through the descending angel rolling away the stone.

This text in Matthew allows us to see what the best laid plans of the chief priests and the elders come to. Their best plans, they're worried, they're paranoid, so they secure the tomb. But the Son of God is in that tomb. You can't secure that tomb. The Son of God is in that tomb and not in the form of a servant.

Now we've been in the course of Matthew, I don't know how many times we've quoted Philippians 2 about Jesus humbling himself and taking on the form of the servant. That's not this Jesus anymore. And so the best laid plans to secure this tomb are going to fail because the risen Son of God is the one in this tomb. And you cannot oppose the will of God with a few soldiers. Jesus died because He laid His life down, not because anyone took it from Him.

And they're used to Christ in the form of a servant, but He's not that Christ anymore. So away with your crucifixes. Jesus Christ is not that Jesus. He was only that Jesus for a few hours when he was playing your part, when he was suffering for your sins. But from eternity past, he's been a glorious Jesus Christ.

He's been a glorious Son of God and all things were made by Him and through Him and for Him and into eternity future. When we're introduced to Jesus Christ in Revelation 1, His face is shining like the sun and his hair is white. And there's a two-edged sword protruding from his mouth. Now is that figurative or is that really what we'll see? I don't know.

But the point is, is he's glorious. And so to have a crucifix be the symbol of our faith is completely inappropriate. Do you understand that? Do you understand How that image erodes the full view of the gospel that we should have. Jesus Christ is not dead.

He is not nailed on the cross. He has been raised from the dead, victorious over dead. Victorious over death. And now his enemies are being made his footstool. He's been given an everlasting kingdom, a kingdom that will never end.

Remember when Jesus was being arrested, he says, I could call down 12 legions of angels. Now, we have one angel here, one lousy angel. No offense. One angel, One meager angel compared to the 72, 000 he was just talking about when he was arrested. One.

What happens? The manliest men produced in that era are laid prostrate to the one lousy angel. Because they're not like us. And this is so consistent with the testimony of all the Bible. Anytime an angel shows up, what does he have to say?

Fear not. Fear not. Always when an angel shows up, he says, don't be afraid. Now let's apply this. Consider the unbelieving man who has so much bravado, who seems to be so tough, who is so hardened that you can't believe that he's within reach.

Now come to Matthew 28. One angel shows up. Jesus could have more than 72, 000 of these angels deployed to help him in anything he wants to do. 72, 000. One comes and the biggest, strongest, the best, and the brightest are like dead men.

And they're shaking for fear. Now, you're going to come into contact with unbelieving men and women this week. And you're going to think they're so fearless. They're so hardened. God could never reach them.

And when that happens, bring your mind to Matthew 28 in this text. And know that all that needs to happen is for God to show up. The works of God. If he sends one angel to your aid, this unbeliever who seems to be so hardened, who seems to be so beyond help, will be prostrate before him. Before him.

Never, never be intimidated by the bravado, the seeming impenetrability, the hardness of unbelievers. We should come to this text and a hundred more just like it and have such a holy boldness that man only seems to be this way. But when the works of God are brought to bear, men fall prostrate. And it should cause us to cry out to Almighty God when we are faced with the impenetrable unbeliever, that's just a facade. That's just a facade.

When we come face to face with the impenetrable unbeliever, we should call out for God's help because we can never lay them low but if the works of God are brought to bear they'll become like dead men and they are not beyond help any more than you in your hardened state were beyond help. We should have a holy boldness knowing that God breaks through the hardness like that. Knowing that God breaks through the hardness like that. Knowing that God breaks through the toughness like that. And that no one is beyond his reach.

And when the works of God are brought to bear, that men tremble in fear. And they are prostrate before the Almighty God. Finally, the angel speaks to the women. The angel speaks to the women. There are actually two angels present.

Luke and John make that clear. That is required by the Gospel accounts in Luke and John. There are two angels but apparently one of them is speaking and that's the one that is portrayed in Matthew and in Mark. This angel says three things. First the angel says, he is not here.

He's not here. In Luke He's not here. In Luke 24 verses 5 and 6, the angel says, Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why are you here looking for Jesus? He's risen.

He said he was going to be risen. He is risen. Why are you looking for him here? This is the last place you should be looking for Jesus. He's in a tomb.

Why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here. The grave could not hold him. Second thing the angel says is, he is risen as he said. Now my mind immediately goes to the four explicit places in the book of Matthew where Jesus has said, now I'm not talking about parables or visions or anything, Jesus says I'm going to rise from the dead in the clearest, most unadorned ways you could possibly say it.

It's in Matthew 16, 21, Matthew 17, 22, and 23, Matthew 20, verses 17 through 19, Matthew 26, verses 31 and 32. He just says it as clearly as he could possibly say it. So when I see the angel here saying he is risen, as he said, my mind goes here. And that's right, but There's more. It's not just his disciples that he was teaching that he would rise from the dead.

After all, the chief priests and the Pharisees have an expectation that he's going to rise from the dead. Why is that? He's been saying it to them. He's been teaching that he would rise from the dead. Now consider these two places that we've stumbled on in the Gospels or we've come across in the Gospels.

The first is in Matthew 12, 38-40. The scribes and the Pharisees want a sign from Jesus. And he says it's a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks for a sign. You're only going to get one sign. And it's the sign of Jonah.

Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so also will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. We also see in John chapter 2 verses 18 through 21, Very similar, the Jews are seeking a sign. What's the sign he gives them in John chapter 2? It's that destroy the temple and in three days I will raise it up." So Jesus hasn't just been a secret among his eleven disciples. He's been teaching that he will rise from the dead broadly enough that the chief priests and the elders have an expectation and want to secure the tomb lest his disciples perpetrate a sleight of hand and create a fraud, not even occurring to them that he might actually rise from the dead.

Finally, the angel says, come and see the place where the Lord lay. Come and see the place where the Lord lay. And they're given an angelic tour of the empty tomb. Wouldn't you like to be there for that? Come see.

He's not here. The grave cloths are here. The handkerchief is here. Jesus is not here. And he gives them this instruction, go quickly, tell his disciples.

In Mark 16 verse 7, it says the same thing, go tell his disciples, but Mark 16 verse 7 adds this, and Peter, and Peter, and I'm going before them into Galilee. At the empty tomb with the angel, Jesus starts the process of restoring Peter. Make sure Peter knows he's a disciple that needs to go into Galilee. I'll meet Peter there too. And the last time we saw Peter, all the gospel accounts say the same thing, he went out and wept bitterly.

The last time we saw Peter in this gospel, He was going out to weep bitterly. And now, God is beginning the process of restoring Peter at the empty tomb. The angel says, go tell my disciples. And Peter, you're still a disciple, Peter. You be there.

I'll go before you too. I'll meet with you too. Now let's look at the second part of our text. The second part of our text, verses 8-10, where the women encounter the risen Lord Jesus. Matthew 28, verse 8.

So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them saying, Rejoice. So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me." The angel says, go quickly in verse 7 and in verse 8 they are going quickly. They are obeying the instructions that they have been given by this angel.

And it says in verse 8, so they went out quickly with fear and great joy. With fear and great joy. In this text we have two kinds of fear on display, the same Greek words being used. The encounter with the angel resulted in godly fear for these women who love Jesus and are devoted to him. Godly fear, which then becomes the root of joy, but the unbelieving soldiers have a completely different kind of fear.

It's a dread that causes paralysis. Listen to Psalm 2 verse 11. Psalm 2 verse 11. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Something new isn't being introduced in Matthew 28 in this Gospel account.

A merging of fear with joy. No, it's all throughout the Scriptures. It's what we find that actually the fear of God is a root of joy. So they go out with fear and great joy. It's godly fear.

It doesn't end in dread like it does for these soldiers, but ends in joy. As they're going out there met by Jesus. Now in the Gospel of John chapter 20 verses 14 through 16, Mary Magdalene doesn't even recognize the risen Lord Jesus. She thinks He's the gardener. She thinks He's the gardener.

Until He says her name, Mary. And then she knows who He is. And Jesus tells the women to rejoice and they come and they hold him by the feet and they worship him. Brothers and sisters, this is what the doctrine of the resurrection should do for us. It should cause us to rejoice and worship at His feet.

This is what the doctrine of the resurrection does. When these women are met by Jesus and they understand that it's not the gardener, but it's the risen Lord, There's only one thing for them to do is to hold him by the feet. It's to rejoice and to worship. He tells them to rejoice and they worship at his feet. I believe as we begin to reclaim more of a consciousness of the doctrine of the resurrection and raise it up to be alongside on the same plane with the cross that we'll find a rising of rejoicing and a rising of humble worship at the feet of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection just makes you happy. That Jesus is alive serves as a source of happiness for the people of God. He's not dead. He's alive. He's conquered death.

We no longer have to fear death. And this should bear a fruit in the lives of the believers. And the fruit should be rejoicing and humble worship at the feet of Jesus. Jesus says, do not be afraid, go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee.

Now, the angel said, go tell his disciples. Jesus says, go tell my brethren. Go tell those brothers of mine. Now, if you were Jesus, You'd have a choice word to be delivered to His disciples. That they fled in Gethsemane.

That they weren't at the cross. That they weren't at His burial. That they weren't at His tomb. Jesus has none of the sort. Jesus has tender words for these disciples that He loves, that He's been teaching and they're not fully baked yet, they're not fully taught yet, but He loves them.

And they're His brothers. Out of His own mouth, they're His brothers. Now listen to John 20 verse 17. This is the same spot Jesus is speaking to the women. In John 20 verse 17 he says, Go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.

Go tell these brothers of Mine, I'm ascending to My God and your God. I'm your brother. We have the same father. My father is your father. My God is your God.

He speaks so tenderly to these disciples of Him. Now turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. The author of Hebrews picks up the theme of Jesus being the brother of His disciples and His people in Hebrews chapter 2. I'm going to begin reading in verse 10.

I'll read through 15. Hebrews 2, 10-15. And it's speaking of God the Father and what He has accomplished through His Son. For it was fitting for Him, God the Father, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren.

In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you. And again I will put my trust in Him. And again, here I am in the children whom God has given me. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The author of Hebrews is saying that God the Father has done something fitting.

You see that in verse 10? He's done something that was fitting, that made sense. And it was to make, in bringing many sons to glory, many sons to glory, in adopting many sons and bringing them to glory, that He would perfect, He would complete the author of their salvation through suffering. And it makes Him one. The one who sanctifies Jesus and those who are being sanctified, his people, are one.

They are one. They are brethren. They are brothers. What a precious truth we have just in the phrase, go and tell my brethren, what a precious phrase. He's not ashamed to call them brethren.

He's not ashamed to call you a brother or a sister. He's not ashamed. If he had left you as you were, he would be ashamed to be your brother or sister. But through the cross, he's not left you where you were. All your lifetime you were in bondage.

He's freed you from that. He's not ashamed to call you brother. They obey the angel. They obey Jesus. They go and tell.

And Mark and Luke both say the same thing. They're not believed. They're not believed. They do not believe these women. These credible witnesses, these women who they know, these women who they know to be devoted to Jesus, come and tell them they will not believe.

This is marvelous in this sense. That these men who did not initially believe, they couldn't even let themselves believe the testimony of these women, become the boldest preachers of the resurrection in the book of Acts and in the epistles. They're the boldest. They will not come off of that. They will not stop preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You can flog them. You can kill them. They will not stop preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So here in this text, they are left off not believing, but they are going to believe. And they are going to believe to the depths of their soul so that no one will be able to move them off of this great truth of the faith.

Now, some implications of the resurrection for believers. Some implications of the resurrection for believers. This is not an exhaustive list, but it's a precious list. I have seven of them. Seven implications for you if you've trusted and repented and believed the Gospel.

Number one, Jesus has been declared to be the Son of God with power. Jesus has been declared to be the Son of God with power. This is Romans 1. Romans is Paul's Gospel. So Paul thinks the Gospel is deep and wide because he calls Romans his Gospel.

And he starts it by saying Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God. Jesus Christ was declared to be who He said He was because God raised Him from the dead. He was declared with power He was declared to be the Son of God through the resurrection. You can know that Jesus is who He said He was because the tomb is empty, the grave is empty. Number two, you are forever the brother of the risen, exalted Lord Jesus Christ.

This is right out of Hebrews 2. You're forever His brother and He's risen and He's exalted, and you're kinfolk. You're a co-heir. Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the heir. And you're a brother, you're a co-heir with Him.

Number three, you no longer need to fear death. You no longer need to fear death. You no longer need to fear death because Jesus Christ has conquered death. Men, women, boys and girls fear death. Because it's so unknown that the writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 2 says you don't need to fear death.

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He conquered him who had the power over death. That is the devil. He conquered him. He is a conquered foe.

All of his enemies are being made his footstool. Number four. Because of the resurrection, you will be raised in kind. You will have a bodily resurrection. They came and they worshiped at the feet of Jesus, holding onto His feet.

This is not an apparition. This is not the ghost of Jesus back from the dead. This is a bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this is the whole argument of 1 Corinthians 15. Go read 1 Corinthians 15.

Most of the chapter of a long chapter is devoted to bodily resurrection. You're going to have a body. How do you know that? Because Jesus, when he was resurrected from the dead, had a body. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15 verses 17 through 20.

1 Corinthians 15, 17 through 20, Paul writes, And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, We are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Jesus Christ is the firstfruits. He's the firstborn from among the dead. Paul is always saying that in his epistles. Jesus Christ is the firstborn from among the dead. Paul is always saying that in his epistles.

Jesus Christ is the firstborn from among the dead. How do you know that your body will be raised? Because His body will be raised. His body was raised. And He is a firstborn.

He is the firstborn from among the dead. Number five. You have been begotten to a living hope and an incorruptible inheritance. This is 1 Peter 1 verses 3-5. A living hope.

Why a living hope? Because your hope is Christ and He is alive. You have a living hope. He is your hope. And alive Christ is your hope.

So you have a living hope. And you have an incorruptible inheritance that allows you to live a life as a stranger and a pilgrim and a sojourner, not wrapped up in the things of the world, but knowing that there is an incorruptible inheritance and so you can live fearlessly in this life because this life is nothing to you. This was purchased for us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We have an incorruptible inheritance and it ought to give birth in us this holy boldness, this fearlessness that has us so detached from the love of the world that we care for nothing including our own lives. We care for nothing here including our own lives.

We don't have to grasp. We don't have to grasp at the things around us because our inheritance is incorruptible. The moths and the rust cannot get at our inheritance. Praise the Lord. This comes because of the resurrection of Jesus.

Number six, you can know the power of the resurrection. Paul is repeatedly speaking of the power of the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is not a philosophical exercise. It means something profound for you. And Paul knew it was out there, the power of the resurrection.

So he counts everything that used to be gained to him as a loss. He counts it as rubbish. He counts it as dung that he might gain Christ and be found in Him. And He prays that He might know the power of the resurrection. This is Philippians chapter 3, some of the most wonderful words in the New Testament.

Paul has been awakened to a hunger and thirst that the power of the resurrection, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, would come and work in his life. You have besetting sins that are discouraging you and you just cannot get free from them. May God awaken in your heart a hunger and thirst for the power of the resurrection. That the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead would come and work in your life and set you free from those sins that you've not been able to get free from. Or give you victory in that area of your life.

Or allow you to see circumstances that have looked like such a black cloud to you. The power of the resurrection can come and work in our lives. Paul had a hunger and thirst for it and so should we. Number seven. This is an implication of the resurrection.

You have a risen Lord. You say that's not an implication, That's just the definition. Of course we have a risen Lord. It's what resurrection means. Now here's what I'm getting at.

Jesus Christ isn't the Christ of the crucifix. He's the Christ of a co-equal member of the Trinity who is seated at the right hand of the Father and the Bible says He is praying for you today, right now. He is praying for His people. He is interceding for his people. He wants us to be well and to prosper in our spirits.

And he's praying for it. He's pleading with us as an advocate with the Father right now. Listen to Romans 8 verse 34. Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us.

Jesus Christ right now is at the right hand of His Father interceding for His people. Holy boldness, holy boldness, holy boldness. What are you going to take away from this sermon? Holy boldness. People of God, be bold because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

And He's conquered death. And He's seated at the right hand of the Father. And He's praying for us. How can His Kingdom not expand when Jesus Christ is at the right hand of His Father praying for His people? How could that be?

It's not possible. It must expand. His grace must spread from shore to shore. His fame, The glory of His name must spread. Because Jesus Christ has conquered death.

He's conquered. All His enemies are being made His footstool. He's sitting at the right hand of God and He's praying for His people right now. A few concluding remarks. A very few.

Looking at the time, a very few concluding remarks. Jesus is alive so count your blessings. This is what we've been doing this time. We've just been counting the blessings of the resurrection. And they are sweet blessings.

It's a wonderful list. And so the awareness of the resurrection needs to come up to the top of our minds just like the cross is. So that we'll be so full of the knowledge of our blessings that we're living out of this deep reservoir of thankfulness and gratitude of how good God has been to us by sending Jesus and raising Him from the dead and seeding Him at the right hand of the Father so that He could intercede for His people. As Jesus said, rejoice, rejoice. He is risen as He said.

There are going to be so many times in this life where what Jesus has said is going to stand in opposition with what you see with your two eyeballs and you're going to have to decide which is to be believed. What Jesus said or what you see with your eyes. And the world and your family and your friends sometimes will be saying, you've got to believe your eyeballs. No, believe Jesus. If He says He'll be raised from the dead, He'll be raised from the dead.

If He's made you a promise in Scripture, He'll fulfill it. Why? Because He said it. Because He's a faithful God and His promises never, ever, ever, ever, ever fail. Let's pray.

Let's pray. God, your word says it in a thousand other places, but it's such a joy and a blessing to come to this text and know that your promises never fail. We can walk by faith and not by sight. Oh God, may we be a people walking by faith, who if you said it, will go to the grave clinging to it. Who have no love for the world or the things of this world, but believe you and are devoted to you, having been shown what our debt is to you that could never have been paid and how our 10, 000 talents have been forgiven.

This mighty death, it's 200, 000 years of labor. Oh, God, I pray that You would give us a holy boldness, Lord, knowing that when your works are brought to bear, man is laid prostrate before you, trembling in fear, that you always do what you say, And that you are seated at the right hand of an Almighty Father interceding for your people. God make us a bold people. Make us a fearless people I pray in Jesus name, Amen.