Jesus is Gone!!!
Notes
Transcript
We have come together this morning to celebrate one thing in particular, the resurrection of Jesus. We set aside one Sunday a year culturally to do this. But in reality, if you come to church week in and week out, this is not something that is unusual for you. Because this is what we do every single Sunday. We gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection, we would have nothing to celebrate. Today, let us look to the one who defeated death and the grave and let us find all of our hope in him.
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Pray
Introduction
Have you ever really thought about what gives Christianity legitimacy? This is something that all of us should really consider. Is it our belief in the religion itself? Is it tradition? Is it because good things are done by people who claim to be Christians?
These could all be good things. But the legitimacy of Christianity does not hang on them. Does it even hang on the birth of Jesus? On the miracles of Jesus? No. They support it but there is only one thing that Christianity hangs on. That is the resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection, no matter how perfect Jesus was, no matter how many miracles he did, he would just be a dead man.
Think about all of the things that hinge on the resurrection.
There is a God
Jesus is God (all of his claims are solidified)
The bible is true (Jesus fulfilled the OT prophecies about the messiah)
Heaven and Hell are very real places (Jesus speaks on both)
Which one you go to when you die depends on Jesus (John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” )
The legitimacy of Christianity hangs on to the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:17 “17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Our faith is worthless without the resurrection. If there is not resurrection, there is no Christianity. If we were to continue through the rest of the New Testament and see everything that the Apostles and the followers of Jesus did, they only did it because of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. This isn’t something that they tried to fake it till they make it. In the sermon last week, I listed all of the Apostles and how they died. They died at the hands of other people. Many of them, if they would have denied the resurrection of Jesus, would have been spared. That is the reason they died. Because of their dedication to the resurrection being a real event. They did not go to the stake, to their own crosses, to arrows and spears and knives because they were holding onto some fictitious story about Jesus raising from the grave. This is real.
And this is what our faith holds onto. There is going to be one big point for this sermon. One main idea.
The Resurrection of Jesus is Necessary for Redemption
The Resurrection of Jesus is Necessary for Redemption
When you leave here today, that is what I want you to remember. The reason you can have faith in your security in your profession of faith being what gets you into heaven is the fact that it rests on the resurrection of Jesus. Not on any works or good things that you have done. Those are fruits. If you have made a credible profession of faith in Jesus, then you should be doing good things and be imitating Jesus. But those are only fruits. The root is found in the resurrection, in what Jesus did. Because without the resurrection, any profession or belief that you have in Jesus is in vain. We must hold onto the resurrection of Jesus because that is where salvation is solidified.
Before we dive into our text for today, I want to give an overview of all of the events that lead up to this moment. We have read a few of them already today.
Early in Mark we have seen Jesus in Galilee
Chapter 11, he arrives in Jerusalem (triumphal entry) (week before resurrection) (palm Sunday)
He spends a couple of days ministering and gives what we call the “olivet discourse”
In this, he tells several parables to teach others. But he also gives what we call the great commandment (Matthew 22:37–40 “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”” )
On the 4th day of the week, Judas goes to the authorities and agrees to betray Jesus
Day 5, Jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane and this is where he is betrayed and taken into custody
The 6th day is what we refer to as Good Friday. This is where the trial of Jesus happened. Then after his bogus trial, he is taken to the cross where he suffered for many hours before his death. He was taken down and placed in a tomb before sun down.
On the 7th day, things were silent. The disciples did come out of hiding after the death of Jesus and openly mourned.
This brings us to our passage today, which took place on the first day of the week.
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
If you have been here the last several weeks, our passages have been dealing with the Sabbath and Sabbath laws. So, it would be no surprise to you that they would not be able to do anything to the body of Jesus on the Sabbath. They had to wait. Sabbath ends at sun down on Saturday. After the Sabbath was over, these women, Mary the mother of James and Mary Magdalene, went and bought spices.
What had happened was that on the day that Jesus was crucified and died and the Sabbath was approaching, they did not have much time to prepare the body of Jesus for burial. The book of John tells us that when they took the body of Jesus to the tomb, they wrapped him in linen and spices. So either the women did not know that this had taken place or they wanted to do more. The spices that they were going to put in there were intended to keep the smell of rotting and death from growing.
Even though Jesus had told his disciples a number of times what would happen, they still had doubt. These women had been around Jesus. They had most likely heard Jesus’ claim to be God and him foretelling others that he would die, be buried, and then rise from the grave. Yet, they still wanted to anoint his body to keep the smell of death from growing.
The same with the disciples. They were told over and over again by Jesus what would happen. But when he was killed, they mourned. They did not expect him to rise from the grave. (Mark 8:31 “31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”) But think about it. For every other person who had ever lived, death was the end. There was no hope after death. But Jesus was not only fully man, he was fully God. And he was about to put that on display.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
This would have been on Sunday morning. If you have ever wondered why churches meet on Sundays, it is because Jesus’ tomb was found empty on Sunday. It is to celebrate the Resurrection.
There is some symbolism to what Mark is writing here too. When Jesus was on the cross and was breathing his last breaths, darkness fell. It was only afternoon time but it was like night time. This shows the darkness that fell upon Jesus. In his last moments Jesus cried out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The reason that Jesus felt this darkness, this forsakenness from God is because of what we call the great exchange. Our sins were placed on Jesus on the cross while his righteousness is placed on us, those who have repented and believe in Jesus. If you have repented and believe in Jesus as Lord and savior, you have experienced this great exchange. Our immorality for his morality. Our imperfectness for his perfectness. Our sinfulness for his sinlessness.
Not that we become sinless or perfect. If you ever hear a pastor say that you can be perfect in this life, he is a false teacher and his wife is lying to him about how good of a man he is. In the great exchange, we are now looked upon by God as if we are sinless.
Let me put this in a way that I know all of us understand. Any of you ever had to borrow money for anything? The most money we have ever borrowed is for our house. We pay our house payment every month. But what if we went into the bank one day, had our money out to make our mortgage payment, hand it to the teller, and they look up at us and say, “I’m sorry, there is a problem”. First of all, my reaction would be for them to check to make sure they spelled our name right and had the right account number pulled up. Why? Because I know that every month, I have a debt that I have to pay. And if it isn’t paid, they are going to come after me. But they say that there is nothing wrong but that I don’t owe anything. And it isn’t just this month either that is covered, but the whole loan. But it isn’t because the bank just decided to erase my debt. The debt still had to be paid. It was only paid by someone else. This is the great exchange.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, because of the great exchange, our debts have been forgiven. And if you are here today and have not come to a saving faith, you too can experience this through repentance and belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ
Since I said the word gospel, let me explain what the gospel is. (gospel presentation) (repent and believe)
Getting back in our text, the sun had risen. Not only had the sun (SUN) risen, but the son (SON) had risen. This is the basis of our theology. We would not be meeting here today, singing songs, reading scripture, praying to God, preaching the word of God this morning, if it were not for the son rising. The resurrection is the most important piece of history in the church.
So we know the setting. It was the first day, the sun had risen, and they were headed to the tomb with spices to anoint the dead body of Jesus.
3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
They are walking to the tomb and they have a thought. They remember that the tomb would still be sealed when they get there. So they wonder how they are going to roll it away. First, you notice they know that it is beyond their ability to do it. “Who is gonna roll that stone away for us?”
I am sure that this realization setting in probably cause a lot of frustration and anxiety. They knew that his body had only been minimally prepared. They wanted to really honor this good man that they had been around. So they had the intentions of going to the tomb and being able to add to the preparations for the corpse of Jesus. But they just realized that they would not be able to do it unless they had someone to roll the stone away. But what they were about to see, they did not expect at all.
4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
This thing that they were worried about, was gone. It had already been rolled back. This huge stone that these women would not have been able to move by themselves, was moved.
That happens to us sometimes. We have fear of something that does not come. And it eats at us. It causes us anxiety. It makes us alienate ourselves from other and puts a wedge in our relationships with friends and family. This is what is called worry. The bible commands us not to worry. And I know that you are thinking, “oh, I wished I would have thought about that. I just will stop worrying”. Worry deals with trust. Our trust in God to take care of situations.
Men, if you have been married before, you know this anxiety, this worry. Remember when you were planning to ask her to marry you. Each and every one of you had this feeling at some point before you were about to ask, what if she says no. Or ladies, you may have some similar anxiety from this situation too. I know of people that had been dating for some time and had even talked about marriage. And every time there was a nice dinner, or holiday, or family get together, or trip, the woman had it in her head, today is the day. For the man, it is a relief of worry. For the lady I described, it is a feeling of frustration.
There are always at least two possible outcomes of situations. Either it goes the way you imagine or it doesn’t. But how many times have you had this overwhelming worry about something and it was just nothing. You worried for no reason. I would suggest that you praise God for sustaining you and not putting you through possible harm.
I am sure these women felt some sort of relief when they notice the stone was not blocking the entrance. But what they see next immediately changes their demeanor.
5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
Clearly, they did not know this young man. There were no pleasantries exchanged. The one thing we know, is that they were alarmed. Why? Because the only person they were expecting to see in that tomb was a dead Jesus. Not an alive young man. So, just as you and I would be, they were alarmed.
And then this boy spoke to them. And he said some of the most impactful and likely the most pivotal words in scripture.
6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Jesus is gone! The man that you are looking for ain’t here. He has been resurrected, he is risen. We are reminded here not only of the empty grave but the empty cross. Mark makes sure to tell us that this boy said “oh, you are looking for Jesus. He is the one who was crucified. He is the one who died on the cross. He is the one who they took off the cross and put right here in this tomb. Well you might be looking for him, but he ain’t here. He is gone. Look, don’t you see the place where they laid him. It is empty.”
This situation would have greatly alarmed any of us. Anyone would have went to the tomb and expected to see the body of Jesus laying there. But that isn’t what happened.
I am quite a jokester around our house. Especially with my daughter. Every opportunity I get, I will hide around the corner of a door frame and pop out and scare her. Or we will be going down the road and out of no where holler out really loud and make her jump. I find it hilarious. She will deny it, but she loves it. She likes the attention. My wife on the other hand, not so much. So I get a look sometimes. But when I do this, it is alarming to her.
Let me put this another way. I worked in the jail here for about 2 and a half years. We were required to do walk throughs every 30 minutes to check in on the inmates. You would even do it in the middle of the night. We did this for a few reasons. One was to make sure nothing malicious was happening. You didn’t want them to get injured and it was a welfare check. But another reason was to make sure they were still there. The last thing you wanted to happen was for an inmate to escape. I can only imagine having to walk by a jail cell that was supposed to have 2 inmates in it and there only be one. So you open the door and the roommate says “oh, you are looking for him. He is not here. He was escaped”.
We marvel at this because this is supernatural. It isn’t every day that someone is brutally murdered and their body is dead for days and they come back. In fact, it has only happened once. This is unique to Christians. This is why we make it such a big deal. No other religious leader has defeated death. Buddha, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Ellen White. Everyone who has started false religions have all died and have stayed dead. There is only one who defeated the grave, holds the keys to death. And that person is Jesus. And the reason that our salvation can be legitimate is because of the empty tomb.
Conclusion
Without the resurrection, we do not have redemption. The resurrection is necessary for redemption. What is redemption? Ligon Duncan defines it as the work of Christ on our behalf, whereby he purchases us, he ransoms us, at the price of his own life, securing our deliverance from the bondage and condemnation of sin. We have been bound by sin. We need to be redeemed. We can only experience this redemption through the work of Jesus. And we receive salvation by what we call grace. What is grace? God’s redemption at Christ’s expense. We receive the redemption of God, not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus did.
What did Jesus do? He lived a perfect, sinless life. This is the life that we were supposed to live but we cannot because of sin. We are born with sin because of Adam and Eve’s rebellion and now we still rebel against God. Because of this, God sent Jesus to come and suffer and die for our sins. He had no sin but went willingly to the cross because of our sin. Remember the great exchange. Jesus on the cross receiving our sin while we receive his righteousness. We receive redemption.
If you are here today and you are true follower of Jesus, be reminded of what he endured on your behalf. Don’t put yourself in this category just because you prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, made some sort of profession as a 6 year old because you were scared of Hell, or because you have been baptized. If you are a true follower of Jesus, your life will be changed. The things of this world that you once loved, you will despise. You will no longer want to be the center of your own life but you will want Jesus to be the center of your life. When he tells you to do something, you do it. When he tells you not to do something, you stop it. We have too many people who made professions of faith that were not legitimate and are walking around with some false security.
We have too many people who have deserted the church because of things like what is referred to as deconstruction. You cannot deconstruct a faith that was built by the perfect creator of the universe. If I were to go to the first century church and ask the apostles what we should do about Christians that won’t come to church, they would ask me why I am calling them Christians. We have too many people who have this false belief that they got their get out of Hell free card because of a prayer and a baptism. If this is you, the call that Jesus gives us it to repent and believe and then be baptized.
Many of you may be in this position. You have made a profession of faith but you have never lived it out. Or maybe you have been in church your entire life and have never grown in your faith because you never had a real faith. Or maybe you have been hostile towards God for years because you just have no faith. I want to give you a moment to respond to the gospel that you have heard. I am not going to make you walk an aisle or pray some sort of prayer that give you some false reality. But what I am going to do is challenge you.
I want everyone to close their eyes and bow their heads for a moment. This is a very serious and heavy moment. Everyone here has heard the gospel. My prayer is that God is drawing people to him in this moment. I am going to ask 2 things out of you right now. The first, if you are not where you need to be with God right now, maybe that is a stagnant relationship with him or maybe it is no relationship at all, could you raise your hand?
Now, the second thing. If you have never made a true profession of faith, that you are truly repenting and believing in Jesus, and you want to make that profession, would you raise your hand? I am not going to make you come down front but I want to pray for you.
Today may be your first step that you have ever made toward a true saving relationship with Jesus. I want you to know that the church is here for you. Christianity is not a lone ranger religion. We are together.
Prayer.
