The Lies we Beleive

Sermon Style Sheet

Write that down in your formation Journal

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Sermon Text

Sermon Text: Scripture

Call to Worship

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Revelation 1:17–18 CSB

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, 18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

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Passage:

Formation Journal Page Number: 10:36-11:36 1:09-2:01; 5:47-6:39

Matthew 27:62–28:10

Matthew 27:62–28:10 CSB

62 The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 “You have a guard of soldiers,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.” 66 They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards. 1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. Matthew 28:11-15

Matthew 28:11–15 CSB

11 As they were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money 13 and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.’ 14 If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.

Opening Illustration:

We are at Easter - winter olympics in Italy

Curling - Ray Gunn

Judgement always exposes the lie.

THat’s what we are going see today, Our lies fall apart in the light of the truth.

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Getting into the Sermon

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Background - they wanted to kill Jesus, and then they did. So this is after his death. cruel and unusual

Matthew 27:62–28:4 CSB

62 The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

Matthew 27:62–28:4 CSB

64 So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”

Ok, so you may not know this but the chief priests were part of a group called the saduccess and they didn’t beleive in the resurrection - at all- no resurrection at the end, no after life.

So they were afraid that the disciples were going to steal the body, make an excuse, and then usurp their power.

Matthew 27:62–28:4 CSB

65 “You have a guard of soldiers,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.” 66 They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.

So pilate loaned them some guards. These are roman soldiers. Who are trained, tough all that. We think probably about 4. Which four trained soldiers, armed and all that are more than enough for these disciples that ran away and abandoned.

Matthew 27:62–28:4 CSB

1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.

So the guards, they all faint. They’re so afraid. I mean they pass out.

Probably superstitious -

They were probably hoping that the priests could explain it.

Underlined

Matthew 28:11–15 CSB

11 As they were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money 13 and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.’ 14 If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.

So they were hoping for an explanation. They were hoping to find out what is going on.

But instead of getting an explanation, they get a bribe.

They could be killed

You want to know the weirdest part, the weirdest part is that none of the people where like, yeah, but maybe he’s God! maybe he was telling the truth. Why aren’t we worshiping him.

Why didn’t they? Because the heart works in a very specific way.

guards knew - wanted money so they probably just said, not our business

A lie that will justify getting what they want and ignoring the truth deep down.

They guards knew the truth but they wanted money

They wanted the money.

The chief priests they wanted something too, they wanted to keep power.

There was a lot of power for the chief priests. He was getting a lot of money. They had power!

They priests knew the truth but they wanted power.

People do that same thing today.

Whether it’s believing a lie that we can compete in the olympics when we obvioulsy can’t or something else we lie.

We know something is wrong/missing/ guilt/ shame

quiet times of lives, it often bubbles and reminds of our failures.

So we create a narrative/lie and we build a bubble to make us feel look good.

People want to feel important, that they are special. Strong, all that.

We hate criticism and failure because it breaks the narrative we tell ourselves.

But none of them measure up. They don’t work.

The fantasy of the lie becomes more appealing than the truth.

We reject the truth because we love the lie.

For us: Our lies fall apart when we are confronted with the resurrection

The resurrection changes everything

If Jesus rose from the dead, then he is God, he is who he says he was and that makes a demand on our lives. If he rose from the dead, then he is God and we owe him everything.

But that’s The problem is we can’t live for God and ourselves.

That’s what the chief priests tried to do.

It demands something - so take the religious leaders

They knew Jesus rose from the dead

They knew that demands from them

But they didn’t want to believe it.

But you can’t hide from the resurrection - it changes everything.

The sadducees wanted it to all go away - but the resurrection doesn’t go away! They couldn’t do it.

Look at their reaction to the apostles teaching

Acts 5:28 CSB

28 “Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

Peter - we have to obey God, the god by the way, that you had murdered.

Acts 5:33 CSB

33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

They just want to kill everyone! We gotta away with it once - let’s do it again. They want to keep the truth hidden, they don’t want to face the truth.

He calls them out too - your ancestors killed the prophets - you killed the messiah!

Acts 7:54 CSB

54 When they heard these things, they were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him.

Then he says- look I see jesus actually in heaven. They are going to have to give an account. They don’t want to know that!

Acts 7:57 CSB

57 They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him.

These people are not Ok

The religious leaders loved the lie so they tried to silence the truth.

They didn’t want to hear it. They gnashed their teeth.

But then look at the final thing - what did they do - they covered their ears.

How do we cover our ears?

Maybe Jesus never existed? Look, jesus isn’t a legend that people started to believe in hundreds or thousands of years after he existed.

He wasn’t a legend from the past he’s the guy from down the street.

Imagine trying this in winter haven

Well, maybe Jesus was real but that doesn’t mean the bible stories are real?

1 Corinthians 15:6 CSB

6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.

we still have that same problem - they were too close to the actual events.

I mean, people traveled a lot in those days. They traveled for passover. They would have asked and known.

People still go to new york and take photos in front of the seinfeld diner, they do harry potter tours, they do walking dead tours. If we are doing that, for TV shows- what do you think those people did when they traveled to Jerusalem?

The earliest arguments against Jesus was that he was a sorcerer

The gospel’s would be dead in the water, if it wasn’t true.

But maybe, maybe he wasn’t raised from the dead.

The only people who knew if this was true were the disciples.

they never recanted. They lived poor, chaste (sexually pure), humble lives

People lie for money women power

People die because they think it’s true

David Kouresch Jim Jones - they didn’t have a choice

IF they didn’t recant they believed it was true - if they believed it was true, they didn’t steal the body, and if they didn’t steal the body, the resurection was true.

The most reasonable explanation of the resurrection, is that it is true, it did happen, and that changes everything.

The only reasonable response to the resurrection is surrender.

And here’s why that matters because sooner or later the lie will be exposed.

The lady at the olympics she found that out the hard way. She was judged by the judges, she was judged by the audience. She found out that judgement comes.

We should be grateful

You can’t hide from the resurrection because judgment is coming

And that’s true for us as well. One day, the judgement will come. The lies will be exposed and you will have to give an explanation of your life.

But why would we want to hide - why wouldn’t surrender

And God is going to know the truth.

There’s a famous theologian RC Sproul - What do you do with your guilt?

The voice deep down is our guilt.

You know the problem really is there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t wash ourselves clean. We can try to manipulate things outwardly but we can’t change that.

The bad news- You don’t measure up - the good news is that you don’t have to - because Jesus did!

But there’s someone who can. That’s the good news of the Easter.

He didn’t stay dead!

Gospel

ABC’s of gospel

Here’s the question - do you really want it? Because it changes everything.

But here’s the good news, it doesn’t just change things in that have to give up our old lives. There’s a wonderful promise.

And when that happens, we see that there is really a beautiful reality that is so much better than our lies and our sinful desires.

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I want you to focus on that final sentence. all authority in heaven and earth

The one with all the power is also with you always.

I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Here’s waht he is saying - he is saying that he is there for us. Always.

When we make a fool of ourselves and everyone abandons us - he doesn’t abandon us.

He is with us always.

Here’s what that means - you don’t have to hide your sins were paid he rose again, he’s here with you

You don’t have to hide.

You don’t have to fear - he’s with you

You don’t have to control things - All authoirty was given to him. and he loves you.

You don’t have to be a slave to your bad habits and your sins - he rose again.

The new day is here everything is different.

And that’s what we want to be a church. Look at mercy hill we don’t see your past, I don’t really see your present.

Here’s what we see, we see the beauty of who you can become through the power of the holy spirit because of the gift of the son and love of the father. We see that in you.

And we want to be a community that lives in the reality that everythings different. That we don’t have to pretend. We don’t have to control, we don’t have to fight, we can bask in the love of Christ, and live differently together.

END

They didn’t abandon me at all. The guy came on his canoe, took my pack and helped out of the water and then carried me to shore in his canoe.

And this is what Jesus does.

You see you may be stuck in the mud today, you may have rejected him in the past. You may have had a greater love for the things of the earth than for him, but he still loves you .

Gospel “He didn’t stay dead!”

ABCs of the gospel

Do you actually want it? Do you want it? Do you want it more than the mud? It’s not enough to be an admirer of Jesus.

Because the resurrection demands something from us. If Jesus rose from the dead, it means everything he said is true and it means that unless we surrender our lives to him, we will be lost. Forever.

I hope you don’t allow the lies that obviously over promise don’t keep you from the promise.

And what of us as believers. This Easter, my prayer for you is that you would remember that this changes everything - for the better.

Jesus doesn’t just rescue us from the mud once - he continues to do it- he is always with us. There is a real joy. He has all the authority and power

The one who loves you enough to die for you, has all the power and the autority.

You fall down- God won’t rescue me - that’s what he does!

But not only that he is always with you! By the power of the resurrection, he is with you.

The one who loves you, has all the power and is with you even until the end of the age.

Why would ever be afraid? Why would we ever give in to the lies of the enemy?

Listen, I hope you feel that joy. I hope you feel the renewal of the reality that this changes everything!!

And listen, we want to be a church that lives in the resurrection. That lives in that reality. We want to be a church that knows that the resurrection changes everything. Do you have a past that you are ashamed of? The resurrection changes everything!

Have you gotten bored in your faith - resurrection changes everything!

Have you gotten stuck in sins, bogged down and can’t get out - the resurrection changes everything!

That’s what we want to be as a church. We want to be a place that doesn’t care about your past, we don’t even care where you are now but we are excited about what how the resurection can change you.

And not just you but us as a church and as a community.

We want to be amazed at the resurrection, together.

And so you don’t have to live the lie. See the desires we have are always less than the satisfaction we have from peace with God and joy in the freedom of our sin.

Of not having the control, not having to live the lie, not having to be a slave to your desires. He gives you something else. A life of hope, joy and dignity and a promise of an eternity with Him.

You don’t even have to pretend, he knows the truth already.

So if you have never, or you need to rededicate our lives.

But if you are a beleiver and you have been walking with him, remember today is a day of hope and confidence. Death didn’t hold him. It couldn’t control him. He defeated it!

And because he lives, he is with you.

Maybe you’ve struggled with this. Maybe you don’t know what the next step is or how to do it. We want to invite you to be a part of what we are doing. Come to our community groups, discipleship groups, sunday worship. Enter in. Because we want to celebrate that Jesus lives, we want to live in the peace that he gives and we want to do it togehter.

Lord’s Supper:

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

Benediction:

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD makes his face shine upon you and be gracious to you:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.