1 He has Risen! He is not here! (Psalm 16 & Mark 15:42-16:8) 5 th April 2015

Transcription

1 1 He has Risen! He is not here! (Psalm 16 & Mark 15:42-16:8) 5 th April 2015 Intro Please keep your Bibles open firstly at Mark 15 from verse 42 we ll also be looking at Psalm 16 There s an outline to take notes if that helps you concentrate Before we start let s ask for God s help in the understanding of His Word. Let s pray Intro/One Rule and Two Problems Let s cast our minds back to the beginning of the Bible just after God had created everything and we have Adam and Eve living in God s Perfect Garden the Garden of Eden! God gave Adam just one rule in Genesis 2:16-17: [Powerpoint 1 One rule] 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. (Gen 2:16-17) Unfortunately Adam and Eve couldn t keep that one rule! And by breaking that rule 2 things entered the world from that point onwards [Powerpoint 2 2 Problems] Problem #1 Sin entered the world. Sin being anything that breaks God s rules And from Adam and Eve s time on people started doing their own thing and Page 1 of 11

2 ignoring what God wanted. Even when God gave them 10 commandments to follow they couldn t keep those rules and we can t either 2 Problem #2 Death entered the world. God told Adam if you eat from that tree you will certainly die. And eventually Adam did die and as a result we all must die. We have inherited those 2 problems from Adam and Eve Sin and Death You see God can t stand sin because He is holy and perfect and sinless and so the punishment for sin has to be people dying! On Good Friday 3 days ago we heard God loved us so much that He was prepared to let His only Son Jesus show the most loving sacrifice of all time by dying a cruel death on a Roman cross to take away the sin of the world my sin your sin In that monumental act of dying on the cross all the world s sin was dumped on him and he took the blame for us! In doing that Jesus fixed Problem#1 the problem of Sin! God accepted Jesus death as full payment for the punishment of sin [Powerpoint 3 Jesus death fixed sin] And that s fantastic isn t it? But we re still left with Problem#2 we re all still going to die one day! Page 2 of 11

3 3 Which brings us to that very first Easter Sunday just under 2000 years ago. Jesus truly died Are you afraid to believe? Are you afraid to love Him? Are you bold enough to stand up for Him? We pick up the story in Mark chapter 15 from v42 and it s Preparation Day the day before the Sabbath and it s approaching evening time. The Sabbath is the Jews rest day and holy day the seventh day when God rested from all his work after creating everything Sabbath is equivalent to our Saturday and Sabbath starts at Sunset on Friday and goes to sunset on Saturday and it s almost sunset on Friday Sabbath is about to start So a man named Joseph of Arimathea who is a prominent member of the Jewish council wastes no time in asking the Roman governor Pontius Pilate for Jesus body. Joseph would like to have Jesus body to give Jesus a proper burial and there is an urgency to get his body before the Sabbath starts at sunset because no one can work on the Sabbath. This is a bold move by Joseph as he will be seen as sympathizing with Jesus and this could get him in trouble with the Romans and the Jewish leaders who had Jesus killed. But it begs the question for us here today Are we bold enough to sympathize with Jesus death? Page 3 of 11

4 Are we bold enough to say we believe he really lived and he really died and he 4 really took away our sin? Or are we afraid like most of his disciples who ran away? [Powerpoint 4 Are we afraid to say we believe] Back to the story and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate checks with one of his centurions that Jesus is really dead. You see often it took a long time for people to die in a crucifixion on a cross it could be a cruel, slow and agonizing death. But Jesus died very quickly probably because he had been beaten so badly before he got to the cross. Sometimes those crucified were left on the cross for days! The centurion confirms he s dead and Joseph takes Jesus body and lays it in a tomb cut out of rock and rolls a stone across it. [Powerpoint 5 Tomb] In v47 we read that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw the tomb where Jesus was laid. The evidence from Joseph, the centurion and the 2 Mary s tell us that Jesus was really dead! We can forget the theories that he was in a coma, or he wasn t really dead and someone took his body away those theories are nonsense Jesus was really dead But there s something else to learn from the 2 Mary s Page 4 of 11

5 They loved Jesus so much they stayed to the very end even when everyone 5 else had left him Do I love Jesus that much? Do you love Jesus that much? [Powerpoint 6 Do we love Jesus that much?] What about Joseph? He s a member of the Jewish council who mostly hated Jesus and had him killed. Joseph hadn t spoken out about Jesus being killed. He had only believed in Jesus in secret. Now all that has changed. Jesus death had made Joseph brave. Joseph knows it s time to show his love for Jesus. The other Jewish leaders might try to kill him. But it s time for Joseph to show that he really believes in Jesus and be bold and brave! Am I that brave and bold to stand up for Jesus? Are you that brave and bold to stand up for Jesus? [Powerpoint 7 Are we bold enough to stand up for Jesus] Or do we believe in him in secret? He is Risen Why should we be surprised? The story continues into chapter 16 of Mark It s now the day after the Sabbath it s the first day of the week it s Sunday to us. And the women are on the way to the tomb with spices to anoint Jesus body. Page 5 of 11

6 There s no doubt in their mind that Jesus is dead otherwise they wouldn t be 6 coming to anoint his body. The only concern they have is how they will roll away the huge stone in front of the tomb! But when they get there the stone has been rolled away. And when they go into the tomb they see a man dressed in white we know from John s Gospel that this man in white - is an angel They are afraid or alarmed Why wouldn t they be? they are in the presence of one of God s heavenly messengers it s not an everyday occurrence! [Powerpoint 8 Don t be alarmed and go tell] The angel tells them 6 Don t be alarmed, he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him It s amazing news for the women Jesus has risen from the dead! They can even see where his body had been laid but he s gone! They weren t expecting that! The angel goes on to say But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. (v7) And notice the compassion Jesus has to Peter. The angel has a special message from Jesus for Peter go tell the disciples and Peter Page 6 of 11

7 Peter is the guy who said he wouldn t let Jesus down and then denied knowing 7 Jesus three times Peter is the guy who dissolved into tears because of his disloyalty to Jesus Notice Jesus is more concerned about Peter s genuine remorse for his disloyalty rather than being concerned about letting him down. It s the same for us Jesus is more interested in the genuine repentant sinner who admits he s wrong to God and says sorry than being interested in the sin itself! If you are someone here today who hasn t said sorry to God for breaking His rules then remember than Jesus has died for your sin and the Risen Jesus will forgive you right now! And as much as the women are alarmed and frightened and probably amazed to here that Jesus has risen! And as much as the disciples are afraid and not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead! They shouldn t be surprised! Jesus told his disciples earlier in Mark s Gospel that they would all clear off and let him down AND - that he would rise again: [Powerpoint 9 Jesus foretells his resurrection] 27 You will all fall away, Jesus told them, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. 28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee (Mark 14:27-28) Page 7 of 11

8 8 And even 1000 years before Jesus lived on Earth King David wrote this in Psalm 16 our OT passage today [Powerpoint 10 Psalm 16] 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. Here King David predicts that God s faithful one Jesus will not be abandoned to the realm of the dead and he will not see decay in other words he won t stay dead. The apostle Peter the one who denied Jesus as we said and the one that Jesus gave a special message to that Peter did see the risen Jesus in Galilee and that Peter - later on in his ministry in the book of Acts chapter 2 quotes these verses from Psalm 16 - as being about Jesus being raised from the dead Jesus did rise from the dead and He did appear to His disciples and He said these amazing words to them: [Powerpoint 11 All of Scripture] This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Page 8 of 11

9 9 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:44-47) Friends - we shouldn t be surprized by the events of that 1 st Easter Sunday either. Jesus did rise from the dead on the third day All of scripture all of the Bible points to Him and is about Him! Jesus Resurrection fixes Death With Jesus rising from the dead on that third day He fixed the 2 nd Problem we talked about at the start Problem#2 - introduced by Adam and Eve Death! [Powerpoint 12 Problem #2 fixed] So how does Jesus rising from the dead fix death for us? For that we have Jesus own explanation when he had a chat with his friend Martha in John 11:25-26: [Powerpoint 13 John 11:25-26] Page 9 of 11

10 10 25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? Friends, Jesus, is the only one who can fix sin and He is the only way that we can beat dying if we believe in Jesus death and resurrection then we have forgiveness of our sin and when we die we will have the same resurrection as Jesus and live forever with Him in Heaven The question for that Jesus asked his friend Martha - is the same question for us. Do you believe this? Because if we do believe this then our 2 problems are gone Sin and death gone Good Friday and Easter Sunday MUST be seen together as getting rid of those 2 problems we can t have one without the other! The apostle Paul was one man who originally didn t believe and in fact after Jesus had risen and ascended into Heaven he went around persecuting Christians he was responsible for rounding them up and killing them pretty much doing what we heard on the news 2 days ago happened in a Kenyan University Christians rounded up and killed by terrorists! Paul was a terrorist! But then He met Jesus face to face and He changed big time! Page 10 of 11

11 He became a Christian He became an apostle! 11 Why? Because he said He was sorry to Jesus He believed Jesus died to fix sin and bring forgiveness and He believed Jesus fixed death and rose from the death. Here s what the apostle Paul wrote about Jesus rising from the dead to a bunch of Christians in Corinth [Powerpoint 14-1 Cor 15] Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Friends let s hang on to Jesus victory over sin and death. Embrace Jesus He has Risen! He s Alive! He died and rose again for me and you! He died and rose even for those Islamic terrorists pray that they too will come face to face with Jesus and believe! Because just like anyone who doesn t believe in Jesus death and resurrection those two problems of sin and death are fixed for them! Let s pray Page 11 of 11