Saturday, April 11, 2020

The Sunday Surprise


The Sunday Surprise

Steve W. Reeves
stevesermons.blogspopt.com
 

 

INTRODUCTION:
\\\A. Frank Morrison was a British scholar and writer around the turn of the 20th century.
    He had a sharp intellect and inquisitive mind. He was a lawyer by profession and a
    skeptic by philosophy having been influenced by the teachings of Sir Thomas Huxley,
    a disciple of Darwinism along with other renowned British and German teachers.
    Morrison did not believe the Bible or the Gospel of Christ. To disprove the
    resurrection of Christ he set forth to write a book investigating the Biblical text,
    historical evidence and archaeology. His findings led him to write a book far different  
    than what he had envisioned. To this day Morrison’s book, Who Moved The Stone,
    is a leasing apologetic of the resurrection. In the preface Morrison stated, “This is the
    inner story of a man who originally set out to write one type of book but found himself
    compelled by the sheer weight of circumstances to write another.”   
B. In the midst of a world-wide crisis where so many people have died and thousands
    upon thousands have become ill, the subject of the resurrection takes on new
    relevance for many people.  
    1. For Christians, however, the resurrection of Christ from the tomb is the bedrock
        upon which our hope is secured. It is not merely the subject of an Easter sermon
        but the central focus of life itself.
    2. Writing to the Corinthians in the first century, Paul the apostle discussed the
        ramifications of denying the resurrection. “For if the dead are not raised, not even
        Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless;
        you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
        perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be
        pitied” (1 Corinthians 6:16-19).
C. Upon what irrefutable evidence does our hope in the resurrection of Jesus rest? Why
    was the resurrection a “Sunday Surprise?”
 
I. THE DETERMINATION OF HIS DEATH
   
    A. In order to have a resurrection there must obviously be a death.
        1. The death of Christ was foretold by Old Testament prophets.
            a. In Exodus 12:21, Moses gave instructions of the leaders of Israel about the
                Passover lamb. When the blood of that lamb was put upon the doorpost the
                people in the house would be saved from the plague of death. In the New
                Testament Jesus is referred to as our Passover lamb. “For indeed, Christ, our
                Passover was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7) and a “lamb without spot
                and blemish” (11 Peter 1:18-19).
            b. Zachariah prophesied that the Messiah would come riding a donkey as the
                people rejoiced and worshipped him (Zachariah 9:9). Luke records the
                fulfillment of this prophecy in Luke 19:37-39 as Jesus rode into Jerusalem
                while the people laid their garments on the ground and praised Him.
            c. Isaiah prophesied of the suffering servant, the one who has born our sorrows
               and by whose stripes we were healed. The one on whom the Lord has laid

                the iniquities of us all (Isaiah 53). All of these prophecies have been realized
                in Jesus Christ.
            d. Peter Stoner in his book, Science Speaks, suggests the odds of any one man
                fulfilling all of the prophecies of the Old Testament to be one in 100 quadrillion
                (10 to the 17th power). To visualize this, he pictured covering the state of
                Texas with silver dollars from east to west two feet high. One of these is
               marked with an “x.” If they were jumbled up  the chance of reaching down and

                picking up that coin would be like these odds.
        2. The death of Christ was foretold by Jesus Himself.             
            a. “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to
                Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
                scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matthew 16:21).
            b. In Luke 18:31 Jesus took the twelve aside and said, “Behold, we are going up
               to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the
                Son of Man will be accomplished.”
        3. The death of Christ is essential to the Gospel. 
     B. Did Jesus really die? Some skeptics claim that He never died on the cross.
        Instead, they insist that he slipped into a coma (known as the “Swoon” theory and
        was revived in the coolness of the tomb.  What does the evidence say?
        1. The testimony of the Roman guard.
            a. In John 19:32-37, John gave an eye witness account of what happened after
                Jesus died. Soldiers were sent by Pilate to break the legs of the condemned
                men to hasten their death. These soldiers were experts of execution. They
                knew exactly what to do. They broke the legs of the thieves who hung on
                either side of Jesus. When they came to Jesus they observed that He was
                already dead. They were not guessing.
            b. One of them thrust his spear into Jesus’ side. Blood and water (probably a
                milky white substance) flowed from Jesus’ side indicating the death had
                already occurred and physiological changes were already occurring in the
                body.
            c. Mark records in Mark 15:39 that when the Roman Centurion saw Jesus die
                he proclaimed, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
        2. The testimony of Joseph and Nicodemus.
            a. John went on to record how Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus removed
                the body of Jesus from the cross. Nicodemus had brought 100 pounds of
                myrrh and spices. They wrapped the body of Jesus in strips of linen cloth
                cemented together by the mixture of spices. The body was swaddled or tightly
                wrapped like a mummy. A square cloth was tied around the head and chin.
            b. How could these men have prepared Jesus’ for burial if there had been the
                slightest indication that he was alive?   
    C. Without the death of Christ we would be lost.
        1. God’s plan for our redemption could not have been fulfilled.
        2. There would have been no atonement for our sins.
 
II. THE TESTIMONY OF THE TOMB
    A. Near the place where Jesus was crucified there was a new tomb. It was like a man
        made cave hewn out of the limestone of a hill. Inside was a ledge of rock on which
        the body would be placed. After the body had been laid to rest a large stone,
        probably set in a track would be rolled in front of the opening. Such a stone would
        have been far too difficult for a single man or even a small group of men to move
        by themselves.
    B. The tomb of Jesus had an extra layer of security provided by the Roman
        government.
        1. The Jews, fearing that the disciples would come and steal Jesus’ body to
            substantiate their claim of resurrection, asked Pilate to place a guard at the
            tomb. Nothing can so incite the passion of a movement as having the body of its
            leader on display. For decades the body of Lenin has been on display in
            Moscow’s Red Square. When Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special
            Forces in 2011 his body was buried at sea so his followers would not claim it
            and build a shrine.
        2. As a further measure of security a cord was placed across the stone, sealed at
            both ends with wax which was then imprinted with the signet of Rome. Anyone
            breaking the seal would be subject to punishment by Roman authorities.
    C. It is almost impossible for us to comprehend what the silence of the tomb signified
        after the stone had been sealed. With the thud of the stone the hopes of the
        disciples of Jesus were crushed. The despair in their hearts was real. What would
        they do? Where would they go? They had put their lives in His hands.
    D. What did the tomb mean to God? How must it have felt for Him to know that His
        own creation had turned against Him and rejected His only begotten Son? Why did
        He not, in His wrath, avenge His Son’s death by annihilating the earth? The reason
        is obvious. God knew that this story was not over.
 
III. THE SUNDAY SURPRISE
    A. Speaking from experience as one who has conducted hundreds of funerals
        including several of my family members, leaving the grave to return home without a
        loved one is one of the most disconcerting moments of life. We can only imagine
        the feelings of despair and hopelessness felt by the followers of Jesus throughout
        the day on Saturday. During that day the lifeless body of Jesus lay silently in the
        darkness of the tomb. Everything seemed so fixed and final that it was easy for
        despair to destroy the hope of even the staunchest believer.
        1. Then in the early morning hours of Sunday the light of hope pierced the
            darkness.
        2. Jesus was raised from the dead. Think of these worlds. Contemplate them.
            Savor them. Rejoice in them.
    B. The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus comes from several sources.
        1. All four gospels consistently report that it was a group of women who came to
            the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. This is unique in and of itself
            given the attitudes towards women that were prevalent in the first century. When
            the women arrived at the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with spices they
            found the stone rolled away and were told by angels, “Why do you seek the
            living among the dead?” Can you imagine going to a cemetery to visit the grave
            of a loved one and finding the vault uncovered, the casket open and the body
            missing with only the burial clothes remaining? This was a shocking experience.          2. Upon hearing the report from the women, John outran Peter and came to the
             tombwhere, according to John 20:5, he “saw the linen wrappings lying there.”
            The word saw (denoted by an asterisk in the NASB) means, “glanced at.” John
            did not go inside the tomb but, according to verse 6, Peter did. Peter also “saw”
            the empty tomb and the linen lying there. The word for “saw” in this case
            means, “to examine closely.” Peter saw that the linen that had wrapped the body
            of Jesus lay in the exact form in which it had been wrapped around him.  It was
            not lying in a disheveled pile nearby. The cloth that had covered Jesus’ head
            was folded neatly and laid nearby.
        3. The British educator, Thomas Arnold, wrote three great volumes on the history
            of Rome.  “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind that is proved by
            better and fuller evidence of every sort to the understanding of a fair inquirer
            than the understanding of the great sign that God has given us that Christ died
            and rose from the dead.”
    C. There are only three options regarding the empty tomb.
        1. Someone stole the body – getting beyond the guards, breaking the Roman seal,
            Rolling away the stone and somehow making it appear that the linen was
            undisturbed. Who would have done such a thing? The disciples were as
            surprised as anyone (Thomas doubted). The enemies of Christ (Jews and
            Romans) never produced a body when reports of the resurrection began to
            surface. That would have been all it would take to stop the story in its tracks.
    D. There is only one answer for the empty tomb. “Up from the grave He arose, with a
        mighty triumph o’re his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and He lives
        forever with His saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose”
        (Robert S. Lowery 1826 - 1899).
 
CONCLUSION:
A. We are living in a time of life and death. There are thousands today mourning the
    loss of loved ones without any hope. You do not have to live or die in that way. What
    you must do, however, is decide where your hope will be placed.
B. Dr. Robert Ingersoll was a famous skeptic who lectured extensively about his
    agnostic beliefs. He would stand on a stage and challenge God to strike him dead.
    On his deathbed his last words were written down by his secretary. He lamented,
    “Life is now a narrow vale between two cold and barren peaks of two eternities. I
    strive in vain to look beyond the heights and cry aloud but the only answer is the echo
    of my wailing cry.”
C. May I invite you to come to Christ today in faith and obedience to His word?
 


 
 

 

 

 

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