Easter 2021 - Part 2

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. The women at the tomb were afraid. I mean, they had never seen anything like this before. Hey, you'd be afraid too if you were they.

But they had joy because they had hope of life beyond the grave. Because of that, because of God's love in their heart, they had great joy in their heart. Now, if a person doesn't believe, if a person doesn't believe in the resurrection, if they don't believe in salvation and heaven and eternal life, they have reason to be afraid because at any moment that could be it.

And if you're just not sure, say, well, it's not that I don't believe, I just don't know. Well, if you don't know, there's good reason to have some worry or anxiety about it. That would be understandable.

The Resurrection Changes Fear Into Joy

But again, if Jesus rose from the dead, that changes everything. If we lay hold to that claim and trust in it by faith. So if Jesus rose from the dead, he is not a liar. He is not a lunatic. He is Lord.

So the Jewish leaders, again, they are anxious, they're concerned about how all of this is going to go. The Roman soldiers, they were afraid, and their fear was only compounded because if they failed to watch the tomb, if they mess up, then it could cost them their lives, and they knew that.

So at this point, they don't know what's going on. And yes, the women were afraid, but they have this reminder from the angel that Christ rose, just like he said he was going to. You know, Jesus keeps his promises.

If you open the Bible and read a promise of God, a promise of Christ, you can rest assured that the Lord will keep his promise. It does require faith on your part, though, doesn't it? Look at verse 9.

So the women have great joy in their hearts. Verse 9, speaking of the women, it says, And they went to tell his disciples. Behold, on the way there, what happens? Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice! So they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him.

Then Jesus said to them, What did he say? Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. This statement by Jesus, Do not be afraid. He's always saying this, right?

Fear not. Let not your heart be troubled. Do not be afraid. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus says this 300, get this, 365 times. Call me crazy, I don't think that's a coincidence. Jesus says, Do not be afraid once for every day of the year.

You know what the Lord's saying there? Don't be afraid. Tomorrow, fear not. The next day, next week, let not your heart be troubled. You see, the women were afraid, but they needed a reminder. I believe all of us need a reminder.

We're being reminded right now. The women were fearful, but they had great joy. And you may be afraid, you might be worried. Some of you are, some of you are not. But you can have that great joy. I just hope today, throughout the day, as you enjoy Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday, that you'll have great joy in your hearts.

And I pray that that would happen tomorrow. You would have great joy in your heart. And next week, next Sunday, when we're all here again, or most of us, all that joy in our heart. That's what you want, right?

Amen? Is that what you want? Why should we not be afraid? Because Jesus is risen from the dead. Look at verse 11 of Matthew 28. Now, while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.

And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. They bought them off, saying, Tell them that his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept.

Now, is that true? No. No, they paid off the soldiers. Not only did they get a large sum of money, they were assured government protection. Look at verse 14. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure.

So instead of the soldiers being afraid because of their failure, they get money and protection. This is a good deal for them. They're happy with that. But they've got to keep quiet about what really happened.

They've got to continue to peddle this false narrative that the disciples stole the body. Look at verse 15. So they took the money. You better believe they did. They took the money and did as they were instructed.

And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Now, the ironic thing about that is, let's say, Matthew, the book is written in 64 A .D. That's what the Jews were saying until that day.

But guess what else? Until this day, they still say this. Okay. Now, entering into the final part of the message, all right, here is a universal truth that very few people would deny. This is just human nature.

People do what they believe is in their best interest. Okay. People do what they think will benefit them. That is a universal truth. Now, that's not to say that people don't make bad decisions or unhealthy decisions.

They do that. But even then, they do it because there's some sort of payoff for them. But people make decisions based on what benefits them. And I believe you say, well, okay, this is the truth. You're setting forth the truth.

How can we know the truth? This proves Jesus rose from the dead. So it's going to take me a moment to walk through this. I think you'll see it, though. So it's hard to know the truth. No matter what someone claims, there will always be someone who claims the opposite.

We proclaim, I proclaim to you this morning, that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the grave. And then there will be all these people say, no, that's not true. They say their disciples made it up. You know, they're just, the disciples, they're just so invested, or maybe they don't want to admit they were wrong, they just can't handle the truth, so they made up this lie.

And they're doing it because they think it will benefit them. You know, people do that kind of thing. But I believe we can know this claim is true. People do what is in their best interest. Consider the Jewish leaders.

They were taking a risk by executing Jesus. It was a risk. The trial was illegal. It could have backfired. Jesus was wildly popular among the common man. There could have been an uprising because of what they did.

But they believed the risk was worth it. And why did they plot, and why were they convinced Jesus had to die? They were protecting themselves. They were protecting their own power and authority. People will do anything to protect.

If someone has power, they will do anything to protect power. So they understood Jesus as the Messiah. This is bad for business. Because either way, if he becomes king of Israel, how's that going to work for them?

What's the king going to do to his enemies? So that was not an option for them. Or if Jesus, and this is what the people thought, that the Messiah would lead an uprising against Rome, that would cause the whole Roman army to come down on them.

Either way, they lose. They lose their lives, they lose their power and authority. So to them, to protect their best interests, the Jewish leaders, Jesus had to die. That was the bottom line. Now when it comes to the Romans, what about the Romans?

Pilate did not even want to crucify Jesus, if you know the story. But Pilate was doing what? He was protecting himself. He was protecting his own power and his own authority. The Jews basically forced his hand.

Jesus, they said, claims to be a king. And there is no king but Caesar. Pilate worked for Caesar. So if Caesar found out that Pilate didn't do something about this man who's claiming to be king, guess what happens to Pilate?

So Pilate didn't want to kill Jesus, but he had him killed because he was working to protect his own interests. Now finally we get to the disciples. Up until this point, even if you are a total skeptic, their behavior can be explained.

They believe that Jesus is the Messiah. He's speaking to them about the kingdom of God. So when Jesus takes the throne, guess what? They're going to be right there by his side to rule and reign with him.

And even when Jesus talks about how they will suffer or he will suffer and die, it goes in one ear and out the other. It's like they don't even hear this. But they figure even if we do have to suffer a little bit, it's going to be worth it.

We get to rule and reign with the king. So up until this point, you can see how even the disciples are doing what is in their own best interest. Now I'm not saying that was their mindset, but that is how a person could view it.

However, when Jesus dies, it changes everything. So here's the point. Okay, here's the proof. The 11 disciples, before Jesus died, at times they wavered. They made a lot of mistakes, said a lot of dumb things.

They wavered, they lacked faith. How many times did Jesus say, O ye of little faith? When Jesus was arrested, what did they do? Let's protect ourselves. They ran and they hid. Peter, when he found out Jesus was dead, Peter went back to fishing.

Yet something happened. Something happened that turned these weak and often cowardly men, something happened to turn them into the most fearless creatures the world had ever seen. And they wouldn't back down to the Jewish authorities or the Roman authorities or anyone else.

What happened? You know, there has to be a logical explanation for this. The disciples faced persecution. They faced beating again and again. They faced imprisonment. They all, with the exception of John, they were all tortured and eventually killed.

And they went to their death not looking back. That's not going along with your own best interests, is it? There's something different about this. There's something different. You know, people will die for what they believe in.

Because you know why. You know what changed them. They saw the risen Lord. That changed everything. But people will die for what they believe in. People will die even for a lie that they have been misled into believing.

Nobody, here it is, nobody suffers and dies for what they know to be a lie. And the disciples above anybody, they would have known whether Jesus rose or not. That's the only explanation, that Christ rose from the dead, that would cause them to work against their own self-interest to face torture, suffering, imprisonment, and then death.

So what's the explanation? Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Matthew, Nathaniel, Simon, Thaddeus, the other James, and then finally Paul. These men all fearlessly preached Christ the rest of their lives. They all were more than willing to give up their lives for one simple reason.

They knew that death had been conquered. There's nothing left to fear. Nothing left to fear. They knew because they saw him with their own eyes. They knew the resurrection and the gospel. They knew it was the truth.

And you can know that it is the truth. And finally, in John chapter 20, verse 29, Jesus said to Thomas, remember the one who doubted? He said to Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

I pray that each and every one of you are among that group this morning, that while you have not seen, you have believed, that Jesus is the Son of God who rose from the dead. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you so very much for this time together to be able to gather peacefully on this plot of land which your people have been assembling on for the past 145 years.

And I pray that you would protect this congregation both physically, emotionally, mentally, and also spiritually so that this church would continue to preach the gospel until Jesus returns. And Lord, it is my most sincere prayer that if anyone listening this morning has never opened their heart to your saving grace, that they would acknowledge before you even now that they are a sinner in need of divine forgiveness.

And that by confessing with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in their heart that you have raised him from the dead, that they would be saved, they would be delivered from eternal death. Because Christ has conquered death for every man, as the scripture says.

So Lord, we know that without your grace, none of us would be able to stand before you. So we thank you for your mercy. And finally, motivate us, Lord. Stir up our hearts unto love and good works to share this glorious message that Christ is risen from the dead and all God's people saved.

Amen. 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.