You Can't Keep Jesus Down! (Matthew 28:1-10)
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INTRO
INTRO
You just can’t get rid of it; no matter what you do — you can rub it, vacuum it, mop it, wipe it— GLITTER! You just can’t get rid of it!
There’s some things you just can’t seem to get rid of. No matter how far you try to put it out of reach or long you try to ignore it, it’s still there.
Today we are celebrating the greatest event in all of history! The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul said in , “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” This event means everything to the Christian, and it should mean everything to every person.
Jesus is greater than glitter! But in the same way, you can’t get rid of Him! You can’t keep Him down.
They tried to trick Him.
They tried to trap Him.
They tried to question Him.
They tried to accuse Him.
But you can’t keep Jesus down!
They tried to mock Him.
They tried to spit on Him.
They tried to beat Him.
They tried to humiliate Him.
But you can’t keep Jesus down!
They tried to silence Him.
They tried to murder Him.
They tried to bury Him.
They tried to guard Him.
But you can’t keep Jesus down!
Now let me tell you about it.
I want to tell you today, from , that 1) You can't keep Jesus in the tomb (v.1-4); 2) You can't keep Jesus from His mission (v.5-10).
Let’s begin by understanding the significance of the empty tomb.
You can't keep Jesus in the tomb
You can't keep Jesus in the tomb
V.1-4 tell us what happened on that 3rd day. But let’s go back and read the end of the previous chapter to remember what all was happening with the tomb. READ .
The Jewish leaders (chief priests and Pharisees) went to Pilate again and asked him to order guards to be put around the tomb.
There is no indication that they thought Jesus would resurrect. They were concerned about his disciples going and stealing his body and then claiming that he rose again. Pilate's response is interesting though because it seems as if he is almost trying to stay away from it to some degree. He tells the Jewish people, you have a guard of soldiers…
There were a guard of soldiers assigned to the temple area to help squelch any type of fighting or difficult situations that might arise with so many people gathering around the temple for the special Jewish holiday. Pilate may have been giving permission for those guards to be used for this purpose. We may not be certain of the relationship of the guards, but verses 11 through 15 tell us that ultimately, these guards had some kind of reporting to the governor, or Pilate (V. 14).
The tomb already had a big stone rolled in front of it by Joseph, the owner of the tomb (27:60). The guards sealed the stone and then left some guards in front of the tomb. Sealing the stone probably meant putting some type of clay or similar substance around the stone, making it much harder to move.
The only problem here is that the chief priests and the guards were not looking up to see what God might do, they were only looking out to see what man might do. They were ready to fend off the grave robber, but they could not handle the Lord!
Verse 2 tells us that there was an earthquake and then an angel descended from heaven and he rolled back the stone and sat on it. Sitting on the stone may have been symbolic of meaning that the work was finished. But here's what we need to understand. The angel did not need to move the stone so that Jesus could walk out of there. The resurrection had already happened! They were simply moving the stone so that people could see and know that Jesus Christ is alive!
The guards were fearful, they trembled and then became like dead men. This paralysis may have been to allow no harm to come on the women who were visiting the tomb that morning.
Even now, people want to keep Jesus in the tomb, so to speak, because they don’t want to live under His rule. It’s really something that the Jewish leaders were more content to ask help from Pilate, the Roman ruler, and come under his authority, than they were to come under the authority of the Messiah! The Romans weren’t necessarily friends with Jewish people; the Romans were the largest power in the world at that time.
But yet, the Jewish leaders go to Pilate to keep Jesus sealed away. You can’t keep Jesus in the tomb. He is the ruler of all things. There is not higher authority than Jesus Christ because He is God and Creator of all things.
ILLUSTRATION
In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse.
Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”
“Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.
The lookout replied, “Steady, Captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship: ‘We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.’“
Back came the signal, “Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees.”
The captain said, “Send: “I’m a captain, change course twenty degrees.’“
“I’m a seaman second-class,” came the reply. “You had better change course twenty degrees.”
By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send: ‘I’m a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.’”
Back came the flashing light, “I’m a lighthouse.”
We changed course.
(In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 153)
You can try to seal the tomb. You can try to direct your own course and you can try your hardest to throw around all of your accolades and try to tell God what to do. But just like that lighthouse is fixed and that battleship would eventually run into it, that’s how you’ll meet God. He is fixed as the Creator and King of all, and I would prepare now to meet Him.
Transition: You can’t keep Jesus in the tomb, and now let’s see how you can’t keep Jesus from His mission.
You can't keep Jesus from His mission
You can't keep Jesus from His mission
v.5- The angel speaks to the women and invites them in to see where Jesus laid in the tomb. But this isn’t any museum or long-term spectacle.
Immediately, the angel dispatches these women as the first post-resurrection missionaries!
This plan of redemption was a plan from before the foundations of the world. Telling others about the death and resurrection of Jesus was always part of that plan. An angel told the women, and Jesus would tell other disciples when he appeared to them again.
It’s like the time has finally arrived. The redemptive plan of God is now complete, so go and tell people how they can be saved. Jews and Gentiles—all people.
So the women left that scene at the tomb and they had an attitude that any missionary, any Christian, should have: v.8 says they departed with fear and great joy. They have encountered the power of the living God like they’ve never seen before, and now they have the monumental task of telling other people that He is risen from the dead!
V.9 tells us that these women were able to see Jesus before any of the other disciples. In fact, they took hold of his feet and worshipped Him. Jesus allowed this worship because He is God and worship was certainly fitting.
The women knew that this wasn’t some hallucination on their part—they saw the empty tomb and they saw the risen Savior! Now let me ask— what if they had not been faithful to the task of going and telling?
Christians- You can’t leave the resurrection scene without seeing the priority of evangelism. You can’t experience the resurrection power of Jesus Christ and not share it!
When the women told the disciples at Galilee, v.16 & 17 tell us that they all worshipped Jesus when they saw Him, but some doubted. Matthew didn’t go into detail like other gospel writers did, but here’s where we’ll end today.
You can’t keep Jesus from His mission. Some in this room right now might even be doubters. Do you realize that Jesus didn’t just appear to his disciples, but tells us, “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” (, ESV)
“Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” (, ESV)
Jesus is on the earth 40 days. Speaking the kingdom of God. People saw Him, hear Him. More than 500 people. The written records would have been squelched if they weren’t true.
Yet over the years, as time has distanced us from this great account of the resurrection of Jesus, it can be easier to think that it is some fiction story—you could make no greater mistake.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the continuation and culmination of God’s plan of redemption. And Jesus clearly said that we are to take it to all the nations.
When they gathered in Galilee, Jesus gave what we call the Great Commission (). This is how the resurrection account ends—you can’t keep Jesus from His mission!
Yet still, they are attempts to silence the mission of God.
China. Last April (2016)— On April 14, a government-backed company dispatched personnel to bulldoze Beitou Church in Zhumadian, Henan province, after a local developer wished to take control of the church’s valuable property. Li Jiangong, the person in charge of the church, and his wife, Ding Cuimei, stepped in front of the machinery in an attempt to stop the demolition. The wife was killed. Bulldozed and buried alive for trying to protect her church building.
On April 14, a government-backed company dispatched personnel to bulldoze Beitou Church in Zhumadian, Henan province, after a local developer wished to take control of the church’s valuable property. Li Jiangong, the person in charge of the church, and his wife, Ding Cuimei, stepped in front of the machinery in an attempt to stop the demolition.
The Open Doors Ministry, who focuses on bringing attention to persecuted Christians around the world, released data in their 2017 World Watch List, a ranking of the top 50 countries where persecution is most severe.
China is #39 on that list. They report a population of 1.37 billion people in China, with 85 million Christians. A little over 6% of the population is Christian, in a socialist country where religion is often controlled.
Egypt. Just last week, on Palm Sunday, an ISIS man blew himself up in the Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, leaving 17 people dead. This is just the latest attempt to attack Christians in Egypt.
Open Doors ranks Egypt #21 in the most severely persecuted countries. With a population of 95,215,000, 9,521,500 of those are Christians. Even in the midst of severe persecution, 10% of Egypt’s population are Christians.
Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, where an Islamic State terrorist blew himself up during the Palm Sunday liturgy last weekend, leaving 17 people dead.
95,215,000 (9,521,500 Christians)
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446735/isis-palm-sunday-bombing-alexandria-coptic-christians-endless-struggle-survival
Now back to Jersualem in Jesus’ time: The Jewish leaders thought this crucifixion was about one man and his band of 12 disciples, one of whom had already taken himself out of the world by the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. They were so blind to the fact that this was the Messiah in God’s plan which was from the beginning and had even been working itself out through their ancestors in their time even. But you can’t stop the mission of God!
It’s going to continue—and if you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, why? You have a plan that has been worked out and talked about for ages that can’t be stopped no matter how many attempts come at it. Don’t you want to be on the right side of this decision?