Nobleton Community Church
March 31, 2024 Sunrise Service
Text: Matthew 28:6-7
Pastor Paul V Lehmann
The message of Christianity is good news from a cemetery. Graveyards have always been melancholy places because they are associated with grief, sadness and separation from our loved ones. The cemetery is the last place from which one would expect to receive good news.
When Jeannene and I were missionaries in Paris, France, her great niece Amber, came to visit us. She was a fan of “The Doors” a secular group whose lead singer Jim Morrison had died of an “overdose” of heroin in 1971. He had gone to Paris while awaiting an appeal to indecent exposure while performing in Miami. He was living in a 4th floor apartment with his girlfriend, in the arondisement of Maurais in Paris. There are many theories about how he died, but he is buried in the Poet’s section of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery on the east side of Paris. Amber asked if we knew where Jim Morrison was buried. We had never heard of him, and at the time of his death, we were in The Congo. I did some research and found out where he was buried and we took her there to see the grave, where a remarkable simple tomb marks his grave but it is one of the most popular. . This was the largest (110 acres) and old cemetery with huge tombstones and mausoleums. Oscar Wild the most famous buried there, had gone to Paris, ironically enough because he was arrested for indecency in England.
The day we went to the grave, there was a couple sitting in front of the slab which was all that was there. Every time they put up a marker including a bust of Morrison, it was stolen so they have now put an iron railing around it. While there we saw a couple smoking pot while lamenting Morrison’s untimely death.
From the beginning of time, man has raised the question which was articulated by Job. “If a man dies, shall he lie again?” (Job 14:14). Century after century the shall and the great, the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor, the young and the old marched into the silent, clammy chambers of death. People stood in fear of death and the grave.
It remained for Jesus Christ, the God-Man, to come with an authentic answer to Job’s painful perplexing question.
THE BASIC TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY, AND THE CENTRAL CORE OF THE GOSPEL IS THE RESURECTION OF CHRIST.
The angelic announcement ; “He is not here, for he is risen, just as he said. Come see the place where the Lord laid. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that HE IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD.:(Matthew 28:6-7) This is the basic truth of the gospel. This Easter message is not an argument—it is a proclamation. The angels declared this Jesus Christ had conquered death and had risen to life. The apostles experienced the living presence to the extent that they died martyr’s deaths rather than surrender or renounce their faith and deny their relationship to Him. The Scriptures record at least eleven appearances of the living Christ to the disciples. The empty tomb “spoke with a shout” to declare that he was no longer dead. (Acts 2:24 and II Tim. 1:10). The present day strength of Christianity is a dramatic testimony to the presence of the living Christ who has walked through the corridors of time. So let’s consider: TWO DECLARATIONS FOUND IN THE GOOD NEWS OF THE RESURRECTION. FIRST—-
I. THE DECLARATION OF THE EMPTY TOMB
During the last six months of our Lord’s earthly ministry, he taught his disciples concerning the necessity and nature of his death on the cross. He taught them in parables in John 2:19 and John 12:24 and he spoke directly in John 10:17-18, and Matthew 16:21 and 17:22-23. They found these teaching impossible to understand and they tried to prevent Christ from going to the cross. You remember perhaps how Peter told him—oh no Lord, you will never have to do that, and Jesus recognizing that the enemy of our souls was prompting him to say that; responded with “get behind me Satan. The shameful and horrible death on the cross was, for them, a great personal tragedy. He was their dearest friend. Thay had placed their complete confidence in him, and placed on him the future of their nation. His death, for them, was a great political tragedy because they expected him to be a nationalistic Messiah who would deliver Israel from the domineering power of Rome. His death on the cross, for them, was a public disgrace. There was no more shameful manner in which a man could die. Jesus was condemned as a common criminal and sentenced to death by crucifixion. This was a fate so terrible that Roman law forbade the crucifixion of a Roman citizen even for the most serious and outrageous crime.
It wasn’t until the mysterious miracle of the first Easter morning that they began to understand what the Savior had been trying to communicate to their minds and hearts.
1.) THE EMPTY TOMB DECLARED TO THEIR MINDS AND HEARTS THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS REALLY THE DIVINE SON OF GOD. — AND IROMANS 1:4 says: “…AND WHO THROUGH THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS WAS APPOINTED THE SON OF GOD IN POWER BY HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD….
Jesus Christ of Nazareth had worked in a carpenter shop. He had walked about Galilee. He became hungry like other men. He experienced weariness and exhaustion. He knew loneliness and sorrow. He was human like us, but he also was God. However, he operated in the power of the Holy Spirit like we are able to do if we have given ourselves over to him and his power. He gave sight to the blind; He made the deaf to hear; He made the lame to walk; He brought the dead back to life. He commanded the winds to cease their blowing and they obeyed. He ordered the waves of the sea to be calm and without hesitation they carried out his orders.
On several occasions he declared himself to be the Son of God, and he had the audacity to forgive sin. He claimed to have the power to lay down his life and also to take it again. This was the boldest of his claims. It was this, the fulfillment of this claim, that authenticated the truth of all his teachings and declared him once and for all to be the God-man. He was the eternal God with a human body.
2.) THE EMPTY TOMB DECLARES THAT HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS MADE ATONEMENT FOR OUR SINS (Romans 4:25) –… ”He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
Some may ask the question; “How can we know that the death of Jesus Christ, took care of the sin that separates us from God.
The resurrection is the answer.! I Corinthians says in 15: verses 16-19 that if Christ had not been raised from the dead, then we only have hope in this life (nothing beyond the grave), and we are to be pitied for believing this. But verse 20 says; “ But Christ had indeed ben raised from the dead …For since death came through a man, the resurrection from the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
When Jesus was baptized, a voice came out of heaven, saying; “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17). On the mountain of Transfiguration there was also an expression of divine approval.
( Matt. 17:5) The final approval was the resurrection. Jesus was our substitute for what we as sinners deserved.—death- His death met God’s requirement for our sins, in order to meet God’s justice, who will bring every sin into judgement. It can happen for us now, if we except God’s provision through Jesus Christ, if we accept him as our personal Savior, or we will one day be judged after our death, when it will be too late to escape eternal punishment in hell.
3.) THE EMPTY TOMB WAS FOR THE APOSTLES, AND FOR US, A PROMISE OF VICTORY OVER DEATH AND THE GRAVE.
Jesus had said to Martha before his death on the cross; “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me, though he were dead, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. ( John 11;25-26) He also said; “Because I live, you shall live also (John 14:19)
This is GOOD NEWS for us today because one day when it is our time if Jesus doesn’t come back before we die, our bodies will end up in a graveyard. By his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was giving a dramatic demonstration of the reality of immortality. ETERNAL LIFE IS REAL.
Many people think that the GOSPEL is good advice. Let us never forget, as someone has said: Truly, the gospel is not good advice, but GOOD NEWS. It does not tell us what we ought to do for God, It tells us WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US. It does not offer us lessons from the life of Christ, IT OFFERS US LIFE BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
The second declaration found in Christ’s resurrection is:
II. THE DECLARATION OF A LIVING SAVIOR
1.) CHRISTIANITY MUST BE DEFINED IN TERMS OF A RELATIONSHIP TO A LIVING LORD.
In John’s vision in Revelation 1:18, Jesus says; ..”I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Hell).
THIS IS GOOD NEWS FROM A CEMETERY!!
Tomas Arnold a British Educator and historian of the early 19th century, called the resurrection “the best attested fact in history.” There are many modern day supporters of the historical fact of the resurrection, like Josh McDowell “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” and Lee Strobel’s series on “The Case for Faith.”
Luke who wrote one of the Gospel’s and the book of Acts, was both an inspired and painstaking historian wrote; “he presented himself alive after his passion (his suffering) by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days. He showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. (Acts 1:3).
This truth should revitalize our worship, for we come together, not in memory of a dead Christ but in fellowship with a living Lord who said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the mist of them. “ Matt. 18:20
2.) That he is alive makes prayer more meaningful, for when we pray in his name, we requisition the needed resources from the bank of heaven for the carrying on of his Kingdom’s work.
3.) Sacrificial service is more meaningful and worthwhile because the resurrection proves that God will bring every good work to fruition ( (I Cor. 15:58)
4.) By his living presence, he gives us the abundant life –a full life.
He would unify our efforts and command our very best because he is alive and with us, we should be encouraged to abstain from that which is evil. We should be more bold in attempting that which is difficult to do. We can receive comfort from him in times of sorrow, through his Holy Spirit.
Our living Savior offers the gift of eternal life now. Jesus said: “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it in all of its fullness (abundant life). (John 10:10)
He is able to save completely all who come to him by faith and he offers to us eternal life, if we just receive him as our Lord and Savior.
But let’s not limit ourselves to just knowing him as our Savior, but life. experience the fullness of His Spirit. Make him Lord of your