Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

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Please pray for our families who cannot be here today for health reasons.

Pray for Ukraine… that God would use this bad to draw many hearts to Him.

Announcements:

Passover Seder: April 15th 6:30pm

Led by Lloyd & Sherry Farrar.

15 year missionaries and Bible College Professors.

Meal Served

Today… we will have a Special Lunch after church celebrating our 2 year anniversary and finishing the Gospel of Matthew.

If you’re new to Calvary Chapel…I’m Pastor Marc, welcome!

Thanks for joining us today!

Welcome Card & Prayer Basket!

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Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 28:7-20.

Today, we conclude in the Gospel of Matthew… a study that we began in June of 2020… 1 year, 9 months… 28 Chapters…1071 verses.

A Gospel we studied line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept… chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse.

We finish this journey through the Gospel of Matthew today.

Last week we took a deep dive into Scripture.

You should have seen some of your faces… Jaws dropping to the floor… it was great.

Theology is good for the soul!

Sometimes we fly a mile high in Scripture, and sometimes it’s good to look at important topics up close.

And, last week we looked at some deep topics...

Where Jesus went and what He did in the three days between His death and resurrection.

Why we worship on Sunday.

The Jewish Feasts fulfilled in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

All of this because we encountered the empty tomb… Jesus risen from the dead… The Resurrection… a central topic to Christian Faith.

After the Resurrection, there were 40 days… 40 final days where Jesus made 10 appearances to His disciples, and then ascended to heaven.

Some beautiful final lessons that would set the course for His disciples to lead the early church…

If you’ve attended Calvary Chapel Lake City for any length of time, you know I love harmonizing the gospels.

I won’t have time to harmonized all the gospels today, so I printed a chronology of the forty days from the Resurrection to the Ascension… which is at the welcome table.

Grab one and be blessed as you see how the Spirit inspired the gospel writers to conclude their Gospels.

Today, we pick up in V7, at the tomb… right after the angels descended from heaven… rolled back the stone (not to let Jesus out, but to let the disciples in)… the angels paralyzed the Roman Guards with fear… and comforted the women disciples, NOT to fear.

After this, Jesus… risen from the dead… appears to many, and gives His final commission.

The title of today’s message is “The King’s Appearances & Commission.”

Let’s Pray!

Matthew 28:7-8 “And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.

Behold, I have told you.”

7 weeks ago I preached a sermon titled “On the Way to the Garden”… an all time favorite of mine because it was significant that Jesus had the disciples go back to Galilee.

Traveling North to Galilee, just to come back to Jerusalem was inconvenient, but not for their hearts that needed to be re-centered on Him.

And, there was significance in Jesus giving His Great Commission from Galilee… as we will see later.

V8 “So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.”

The women depart with fear and great joy.

Not great fear and joy… their joy overshadowed their fear.

Seeing an angel and the empty tomb… it’s a lot to take in.

They were experiencing the miraculous… and realizing the promise of Jesus to rise again was not returning void.

Fear was present, but GREAT JOY prevailed.

Now, If you recall… the angel rolled away the stone and was sitting on the rock… then invited the women to see the empty tomb and told them, “He is not here; for He is risen.”

Luke 24:3-12 gives additional detail, “Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

6 He is not here, but is risen!

Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’

” 8 And they remembered His words.

9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.

11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.”

Many times over, Jesus predicted his death and resurrection, but the male disciples didn’t comprehend this.

Even of Peter and John, who ran to the tomb, in John 20:9 it was recorded, “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.”

OT scriptures predicted Messiah’s resurrection.

Ps 16:10 “For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”

A Psalm of David.

Which Peter elucidates in Acts 2:31… David applied Ps 16:10 to Messiah, “he [David], foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.”

Last week we looked at how Jesus’ spirit went to Sheol or Hades (the same place), and His flesh… His body remained in the tomb or grave, but was not corrupted… it did not decay BECAUSE He rose again… the resurrection.

The women’s testimony of angels and an empty tomb was too much for the disciples to comprehend…

The women remembered Jesus’ prediction that He would die and rise again… but still, the disciples did not believe them.

They thought the women were speaking nonsense.

Still today… How often do Christians hear the promises of God through His word… and when life’s difficulties arise… forget His promises?

If other believers are reminding and encouraging you of His miracles and promises… don’t be thick.

They are NOT idle tales.

The disciples fail in this moment to remember… and hold fast to His promises.

Thomas was another example of lacking faith post crucifixion… … in John 20:25… the familiar account of “Doubting Thomas,” “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

A week later Jesus appeared again and we read in John 20:27-29, “He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side.

Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

A climatic statement in John’s Gospel testifying Jesus is God.

Thomas’ skepticism was crushed under the weight… of the reality of the resurrected Lord.

Jesus told Thomas, “Don’t doubt, believe.”

V29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Today, we cannot touch the physical manifestation of the resurrected Jesus.

But, we live under the dispensation of a special blessing… if you profess faith in Jesus today… without seeing, but believing… you are the recipient of a special blessing.

Perhaps in this lifetime or when Jesus rewards us in heaven.

Some call faith without seeing “blind faith”… but I would softly challenge this… for the evidence to believe in Jesus is overwhelming.

There is nothing blind about my faith.

The Bible alone is evidence.

Add on… healings in my family, my changed heart… God stories… and the stones of remembrance of His faithfulness… all very real… very tangible… not blind.

And, you have your own testimony… your faith is not blind either.

Before we move on, I would be remiss to highlight some mentions of Peter at this time in the parallel gospels… and these mentions of Peter blessed my heart.

In John 20:3-4, John included a funny detail… after he and Peter heard about the empty tomb, “Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb.

4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.”

What was the point of John writing he beat Peter in a foot race?

I understand that John was younger and obviously swifter, but why years later, did John include this detail when he wrote his Gospel?

It may just highlight that there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun… to have a light heart.

I like to pick on Peter sometimes, because I relate well to him.

But, it seems I’m not the only one… John may have been picking on Peter a bit too.

Having a little fun.

If this is any glimpse of God’s heart for us eternally, we can rest assured that heaven is not going to to be boring… there will be joy… contentment… peace… and perhaps a little fun.

And, this should bless us all.

One more Peter mention… in Mark 16:7, after the angels appeared to the women, they specifically instructed, “But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”