Easter 2021 - Part 1

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

In John chapter 8, verse 32, Jesus said,

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Truth is a very elusive thing these days.

I think if we've learned anything over the past year, it's that if anyone sets forth a truth claim, there will be someone who comes along and says that the exact opposite is true.

Today, it is typically science that is elevated to the most reliable source of truth.

But, of course, we've seen, as we've heard many times, the science changes.

Scientists will have differing perspectives. That happens. Then, of course, there is the realm of politics in the news media where you know there's always two opposing sides.

One side will say the other is wrong, and you know that even if they're right, they're still going to say that they're wrong.

So that's just the way that goes. And then you have the various world religions.

Each one claims to have a corner on the truth. So, really, you can sympathize with people these days when they say,

How do I know what to believe? How do I know, can

I know, what the truth is? Well, we're not here this morning to talk about the virus or politics or world religions.

We're here this morning to look at one truth claim, and that is the claim that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead.

And if that is true, that changes everything.

Every founder of every religion. Go ahead and turn to Matthew 27. But every founder of every religion, they all have one thing in common at least.

It's that they all died. And people will say, well, the founder of our religion taught the truth.

And then someone else will say, well, no, that's a lie. That's not true. Or maybe it's a mixture of truth and error.

And many people, as you know, would just include Jesus as one of many men who founded a religion.

Jesus would be in the same category to them as Moses or Muhammad or Joseph Smith or any of the others,

Buddha or whoever. But here is the truth claim that sets

Jesus apart from everyone else. And Jesus did have something in common with those men.

Jesus died. But the thing that would set Jesus apart is that he rose from the grave.

So let's look at Matthew chapter 27. And at this point in the story,

Jesus had died as the result of crucifixion. And his body has been taken down from the cross.

Look at Matthew 27, verse 57. It says, Now, when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea named

Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.

This man went to Pilate as the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock.

And he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and departed.

And Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the tomb.

And on the next day, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying,

Sir, we remember while he was still alive how that deceiver said,

After three days, I will rise. Therefore, command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people,

He has risen from the dead so that the last deception will be worse than the first.

Pilate said to them, You have a guard. Go your way. Make it as secure as you know how.

So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

So in this text, we can see that the enemies of Jesus, they're a little concerned, aren't they?

They're a little worried. It was the Jewish leaders who had plotted and succeeded with help from the

Romans to have Jesus killed. And, of course, it's true, not all of the

Jewish authorities hated Jesus. Some had secretly become his disciples.

Joseph of Arimathea was one of them. But the majority did reject him.

And now they're concerned. They say, Well, Jesus is dead. This thing's over. Mission accomplished.

No, they're concerned. What will happen next? Because everyone,

Jesus said, predicted his own death and resurrection. And now everyone is waiting to see what's going to happen.

Most of you are probably familiar with the trilemma set forth by C .S.

Lewis. How many of you are familiar with this? A trilemma is a difficult choice.

It's not difficult for us. It's a difficult choice between three options.

C .S. Lewis, the scholar and author, said that Jesus is either, what, a liar, a lunatic, or he is

Lord. Or, to put it another way, Jesus was either mad, bad, or he was

God. And we see what the Jewish leaders thought. They had their opinion.

What did they say? What did they call him? A deceiver, right? That deceiver said so.

They believe that Jesus is a liar. And this kind of always gets me of one of the things that some people will say about Jesus when they don't believe in him.

But they will say he was a good man, a good, wise, and moral teacher.

But he's not divine. You've heard people say this. But that's exactly what

Jesus was claiming. We have to understand that. Jesus did claim to be divine.

He referred to himself as the Son of God. We're used to hearing that.

And you might say, well, but we're all children of God. No? In the first century, that was a radical claim.

Because Jesus, by saying, I am the Son of God, he was saying, I am equal.

He was claiming equality with God. Also, in John 8, verse 58,

Jesus said to the Jews, most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was,

I am. And he takes that covenant name of God, Jehovah or Yahweh, and he applies it to himself.

And the Jews knew exactly what he was saying because what did they do next? They took up stones to stone him because they believed he was guilty of blasphemy.

And you know what? If Jesus wasn't divine, he would have been guilty of blasphemy.

So this is the claim that Jesus made, that I am the Son of God. I am essentially

God in human flesh. That's the claim. That's the claim of Christ's disciples.

So that's one option with the trilemma. The other option is that Jesus was a liar.

This is what his enemies said about him. And I could just ask you in the quietness of your own heart and mind, what do you say?

Of course, that is the ultimate question that anyone could ever face. Remember what

Jesus said to his disciples? Who do men say that I am?

Well, then he asked them, well, what do you say? That's really what matters. But let me just say this.

If Jesus was a liar, he most certainly is not a good man.

He most certainly would not be a good, wise, and moral teacher. Good and moral teachers do not deceive multitudes, asking them to be willing to die for a false cause.

So if Jesus was a liar, he is not a good and moral teacher.

Can we agree with that? Now, the other option, the final option that C .S.

Lewis presented was that he said Jesus is either a liar or God.

Or the other option he's alluded to. Basically, he wasn't lying. He really believed these things.

Just they weren't true. So he's certifiably insane. So liar, lunatic, or Lord.

You know, one of them has to be true. One of them has to be true.

His enemies claimed he was a deceiver. They were concerned that the disciples would go to the tomb and steal the body.

And they would lie, saying that Jesus had risen from the dead. So what did the Jewish leaders do?

With help from the Romans, they appealed to the Roman governor to secure the tomb.

Make it as secure as you know how, he says. So the guards were there to watch it.

There was a large stone that would have been nearly impossible, very difficult to move, certainly for one or two men.

So the tomb was very secure. Look at verse 66 of Matthew 27. It says, so they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Now we move to Matthew chapter 28, verse 1. It says, 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.

That must have been quite a sight. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

And the guards shook for fear of him, and they became like dead men.

But the angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you see

Jesus who is 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, and there you will see him.

Behold, I have told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb, and notice this.

They went out quickly from the tomb with what? Fear? And what else?

Great joy. And ran to bring his disciples.

I just want to stop and focus on that for a moment. In the last chapter, we saw that the enemies of Christ were concerned.

They were worried. Here in chapter 4, it says the guards shook with fear when they saw the angel.

We could say, literally, they were paralyzed with fear.

They became like dead men. Literally paralyzed with fear. So one group is worried.

They're anxious. The next group is overpowered with this great fear.

And then the third group, the women, who trusted in Jesus, you notice they had fear too, didn't they?

Well, what else did they have? Great joy. Fear and great joy.

We live in a world that is filled with fear. Yes, indeed, there are many people overcome by it.

Paralyzed, even, with fear. Now, I think the temptation for Christians to say is that, well, you know, if you place your faith in Jesus, you'll no longer be susceptible to anxiety and fear.

But, you know, that's not really the case. Now, the

Bible does say in 2 Timothy 1 .7, how many of you have this memorized by now?

I hope you do. But God has not given us a spirit of what?

Fear. But of power and of love and of a sound mind.

And that's true. But, and we don't have time to do this, if you were to look at the context of that, 2

Timothy 1 .7, reading the verses before and after, you would see Paul is having to remind

Timothy of these things. You can't just say to someone, hey, you believe in God, you know, suck it up.

You believe in God, what's the matter with you? You shouldn't be fearful. Timothy needed to be reminded because he was still susceptible to the enemy's attacks.

You know, we all are. Over the past year, generally speaking, the world has been living in fear.

But I do have to say, again, generally speaking, when I'm around Christians, I don't get that same sense.

Why? Because a spirit -filled Christian is not afraid to die.

Let me say that again. A spirit -filled, not a spirit indwelt, a spirit -filled

Christian is not afraid to die. Why?

Because they know that death is not the end. It's not the end. And again,

I'm speaking generally because I know there are Christians who are afraid. We may all at times have felt that.

But there are Christians who are afraid. And that's when you need the reminder.

Like Paul reminded Timothy, and like the angel reminds the women, that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but he's given us a spirit of power, a spirit of love.

And he has given us, it's available, a sound mind.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.