Nothing Is Gonna Keep Me Down
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“Nothing’s Gonna Keep Me Down”
Matthew 26:62-27:10
I want to read a quote for you this morning that many of you may have heard or seen at some point.
“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
That is a quote from Michael Jordan. What many people might not realize is that He was cut from his high school basketball team his sophomore year. From there he worked hard, stayed humble, and in his words, he attributed his success to his failures.
Over and over again we can read stories of people that overcame life’s hardships to be successful in some way.
Benjamin Franklin overcame poverty to become a successful author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, statesman, and diplomat.
Abraham Lincoln learned to rise above his clinical depression to lead a country that was divided by leaning into humility and faith.
BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY OF OVERCOMING ADVERSITY IS IN THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.
Today we celebrate THE GREATEST EVENT IN ALL HISTORY.
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE RESURRECTION
There are a couple of events that rival for this position, BUT they all center on the person of Jesus.
Without the other 2, His birth, and the crucifixion there could be no resurrection. And without the resurrection, Christianity would be just another empty religion. Truthfully, without the resurrection, there’s a good chance we would have never heard of Christianity, it possibly wouldn’t have even existed.
However, not only have we heard of Christianity, but it is the LARGEST of the major world religions with roughly 1/3 of the world’s population claiming to be Christian.
But even in saying that, I wonder how many of those roughly 2.5 billion people are living a life consistent with the teachings of Jesus.
HOW MANY CAN WALK AROUND SAYING, “NOTHING’S GONNA KEEP ME DOWN?”
How many Christians walk around KNOWING the victory that we have in the Cross and the empty tomb of Jesus?
How many LIVE in the victory of the cross and the empty tomb???
I am going to preach this morning from Matthew 27 if you would like to turn there in your Bible
MATTHEW 27 and we will begin reading in verse 62.
The title of my message this morning is…
“Nothing’s Gonna Keep Me Down”
At this point Jesus has been betrayed, arrested, gone through the trial, He has been beaten, mocked, and tortured, He has hung on a cross while His closest friends and disciples have abandoned Him, He died a sinners death and was laid in a freshly hewn tomb that was donated by a man named Joseph of Arimathea.
AND That’s where we are picking up the story this morning.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’
64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.”
66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
28:1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”[1]
PRAY
He is not here, for he has risen
8 of the greatest words ever spoken.
Certainly 8 of the most encouraging words that have ever been spoken!
They were encouraging, BUT they should not have been a surprise.
UNfortuantely, the people that should have expected it the most, were the least anticipatory, and seemingly the most surprised by the news.
The disciples were absent. They were holed up somewhere, hiding out, wondering what just happened.
On the other hand the ones that supposedly didn’t believe it could happen, took the greatest precautions to make sure it didn’t.
What everyone should have known was that NOTHING WAS GOING TO KEEP JESUS IN THE GRAVE!!!
These first 5 verses show us that the religious leaders of the day knew, or at least believed in the possibility, that Jesus would rise from the dead.
AND WHY NOT?
They had seen him raise a young girl that everyone thought was dead.
There were reports of a funeral procession that turned into a celebration.
Just a few days earlier they saw a man that had been buried 4 days, walking around among the living. The incident with Lazarus created such a stir, that the religious leaders weren’t just seeking to kill Jesus, but also Lazarus.
They had heard Jesus’ “I AM” statements including the statements He made when He raised Lazarus… “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE”
In mocking Him, those that passed by the cross as He hung between life and death acknowledged His words that would later be recorded in John 2:19
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Matthew records 4 times that Jesus foretold the disciples that He was about to be delivered to be crucified. 3 of those times He included that fact that on the third day He would rise from the grave, BUT SOMEHOW THE DISCIPLES MISSED THAT VERY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF ALL THAT WAS GOING ON!!!
BUT, The religious leaders saw, believed, and tried to make preparations to avoid it from happening at ALL COSTS.
AT ALL COSTS!!! In the very first verse we read this morning we see how far the RELIGIOUS leaders would go to protect their own interests.
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
Don’t you think the chief priests and the pharisees and I DON’T KNOW, MAYBE ALL JEWS, had something better to be doing.
The day Matthew is referencing is a Sabbath day…and not just any Sabbath day, but this was the PASSOVER SABBATH!!!
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
This is why Jesus was in Jerusalem to start with. This was a mandated HOLY DAY. This was one of 3 festivals that ALL Jews were expected to travel to Jerusalem for.
AND INSTEAD OF LEADING PEOPLE TO GOD, THEY WERE STANDING BEFORE A SWORN ENEMY (A Roman Leader) TRYING TO DISRUPT THE PLANS OF GOD!!!
They stood before Pilate sharing their concerns under the guise that “The Disciples might come and try to take His body “and the last fraud will be worse than the first…”
But the possible, if not, likely reality is that they believe the resurrection was a real possibility.
They had seen blind eyes opened, withered hands healed, the lame leap for joy…they had seen lepers cleansed, tax collectors renounce their ways and restore what had been stolen, they had SEEN THE DEAD RAISED….SO WHAT WAS STOPPING THIS MAN FROM COMING BACK FROM THE GRAVE.
He had done the impossible more times than they could count.
John writes in John 21:25 “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
THEY KNEW THE IMPOSSIBLE WAS POSSIBLE, BUT JESUS WAS A THREAT TO THEIR RELIGIOUS SYSTEM AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE!
THAT SCARED THEM AND THEY WANTED IT TO STOP, SO THEY DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE…EVEN BREAKING THEIR OWN LAWS…LAWS THEY HAD ACCUSED JESUS OF BREAKING…JUST TO TRY TO KEEP HIM DOWN!!!
As Jesus is laid in the tomb, there are at least 4 things that He and or His disciples have to overcome for Matthew 28 to Happen.
Even in including His disciples in that statement we need to understand that it was the religious leaders that thought the disciples would come and steal His body. What they didn’t realize was that the disciples had run for the hills. At this point they are hiding out like the Jesse James Gang!
AND WHY WOULD THEY TRY TO STEAL HIS BODY!
They either saw from afar, or heard how badly He was injured.
They had possibly been back to the scene of the crime and saw the blood that had been spilled from His head and His back.
Why would they even think about stealing His body?
John had stood at the foot of the cross with Mary. He had witnessed the spear pierce the side of Jesus.
Why would they want to carry on with a powerless religion that contradicted so much of what they had grown up believing?
Why would they want to carry on with the dissension and the heartache, if Jesus wasn’t the Son of God?
How could Jesus be the Son of God, if He could be crucified and buried?
THE SIMPLE ANSWER…
THEY WOULDN’T!!
HE COULDN’T!!
AND THIS WAS FAR FROM OVER!!!
BUT even if they took this upon themselves, even if they chose to go and steal the body of Jesus form the tomb the odds and the obstacles against them were overwhelming.
So, what obstacles did Jesus have to overcome for the resurrection to happen?
1. Material Obstacles
a. 4000 pound stone set in a cut groove on an incline.
b. Would take several men to move it
c. Lack of Oxygen
2. Legal Authority
a. Wax covering the stone and tomb joint would be sealed by the Roman imperial seal
b. Breaking this seal would be counted as treason and punishable by death.
3. Human Strength
a. A Roman “Guard” led by Petronius one of the more respected soldiers.
b. Possibly joined by a “Temple Guard” from the Jews.
c. No less than 8 HIGHLY TRAINED SOLDIERS…motivated by life and death.
4. DEATH
a. The Widows Son at Nain
i. Luke 7:11-17
b. Jairus’ Daughter
i. Matthew 9:18-26
ii. Mark 5:21-43
iii. Luke 8:40-56
c. Lazarus
i. John 11:1-44
BUT MATTHEW 28 DID HAPPEN!!!
To sum up those first few verses in Matthew 28 it says that Mary and Mary were going to the tomb. There was a great Earthquake (THE SECOND Earthquake…1 When Jesus died, and another when He rose…) When the Mary’s got to the tomb they found a bunch of scared Roman soldiers passed out, and an angel with a message.
HE IS NOT HERE, FOR HE HAS RISEN, AS HE SAID…
Even with the obstacles Jesus rose from the dead.
So, the question is, what does that mean for you, and what does that mean for me?
A wise person would conclude that if Jesus said He would be crucified, and rise from the grave three days later, AND HE DID, that there are some other things we should pay attention to!
We should look at Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 9, and we should recognize that all of these things that were prophesied centuries earlier…things that came to pass… things that seem to be impossible…
If all of these things are true, than maybe we should look to the whole of the Bible.
The facts are that every person in this room was born DEAD.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
BUT GOD!!!
God in His infinite wisdom and Love sent Jesus to die a sinners death, so we could have hope for a better today, and a better tomorrow.
If you’re here this morning and you haven’t made the decision to make Jesus Lord of your life, today is the day of Salvation.
Today is your day for a better today, and a better tomorrow.
BUT IF YOU have already made Jesus the Lord of your life there are somethings we can learn from this, this morning. If you haven’t this is what you can look forward to!
FIRST OF ALL!!!!
YOU CAN HAVE LIFE!!!! Romans 8:9-11
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
YOU CAN HAVE LIFE ABUNDANT!!! JOHN 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
YOU CAN HAVE LIFE VICTORIOUS!!! ROMANS 8:37-39
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Church!!! We have LIFE, WE HAVE IT ABUNDANT, AND WE HAVE IT VICTORIOUS.
IF YOU ARE LIVING ANYTHING SHORT OF THAT, YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON EVERYTHING THAT JESUS ALREADY DID FOR YOU!!!
ALTAR CALL
ADMIT
BELIEVE
CONFESS
IF YOU NEED VICTORY THIS MORNING, THIS ALTAR IS OPEN!!!
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 27:62–28:10.