WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:07.200 You to take your Bible, or if you don't have one, to find one in the pew in front of you and turn to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 28. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:09.519 Matthew chapter 28. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.320 We're approaching the end of our study of Matthew. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:19.839 We've been in this book for just about two and a half years, just over two and a half years. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:25.199 We only have a couple more messages in it before we turn our attention to the book of Isaiah. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:33.119 So if you're recently here, we do book studies and we'll be looking at uh the book of Isaiah starting the end of September. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:49.439 Lou Wallace was a retired Army general who lived in Crawfordsville, Indiana, a Midwestern town my father actually was born in, and many of my extended family went to college in. 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:52.640 He's probably best known for his book Ben-Hur. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:00.159 Ben-Hur is a historical epic that follows the life of a young man by the name of Judah bin-Hur. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:06.239 He's a Jewish prince, and his life intertwines with that of the life of Jesus Christ. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:15.519 The story follows Judah bin-Hur, who's falsely accused of attempting to assassinate a Roman governor by one of his friends. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:29.920 He's enslaved, he's sent to the galleys, but he survives all of that and is released, and on his way back for revenge, he comes into contact with Jesus Christ. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:37.680 The life of Jesus and the teaching of Jesus and his crucifixion transformed Judah bin-Hur's life. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:45.439 This book, Ben Hur, was immensely popular and was the best-selling novel of the 19th century. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:54.719 It's been adapted into several stage plays and also a movie, 1959, Charlton Heston, and it won 11 Academy Awards. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:59.519 But there's a backstory to the story of Ben Hur. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:07.680 Lou Wallace was on a train journey to meet up with other Civil War veterans in Chicago. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:11.759 And on that train was a man by the name of Robert Ingersoll. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:19.280 Robert Ingersoll was also an Army veteran for the Civil War, and he was headed to the same place. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:37.599 He was also a lawyer, but he was most noted for being a speaker around the country, packing out uh houses in order to give lectures on various topics, one of which was his tirades against religion, particularly against Christianity. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.199 He was known as the great agnostic. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:48.719 Well, Wallace and Ingersoll ran into each other on this train journey. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:56.639 And Ingersoll invited Wallace in for a discussion, and Wallace agreed only if he could choose the topic of discussion. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:07.599 So they sat down together, and Wallace asked him if he if Ingersoll believed in the afterlife, if he believed in the divinity of Christ, if he believed in the existence of God. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:11.680 And Ingersoll replied, I don't know. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:12.639 Do you? 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:17.680 Wallace asked Ingersoll another question. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:23.439 He asked him if he would present his best case against Christianity. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:27.439 Later, Lewis described that discussion. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:28.879 This is how he put it. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:43.280 He said he issued a melody of argument, eloquence, wit, satire, audacity, irreverence, poetry, brilliant antithesis, and pungent excoriation concerning believers in God. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:52.960 Ingersoll's views, theological and biblical skepticism shook Wallace, shook him to the core. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:57.520 He said, I was in a confusion of mind not unlike dazement. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:05.759 According to Wallace, however, it didn't shake him, it also moved him to action. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:11.919 Wallace described his religious life at the time as, quote, one of absolute indifference. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:27.199 But because of this conversation with Ingersoll, he said, as I walked into the cool darkness, I was aroused for the first time in my life to the importance of religion. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:35.040 And that prompted him into an investigation of the teachings and traditions of Christianity. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:39.680 And that investigation culminated in him writing the book Bin Her. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:51.199 And also, as he put it, a full conviction amounting to absolute belief in God and the divinity of Jesus Christ. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:05:06.399 However, for Ingersoll, the conversation was just another one of many private and public conversations that he had in his tirades against Christianity. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:18.480 The interaction had such little influence on him that in a later letter, he even posits the question of even having had a conversation with Wallace. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:34.240 It's fascinating how one conversation could be so instrumental in the transformation of one life to be so little thought of by another that it's almost totally forgotten. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:43.199 And that brings us to our passage in Matthew chapter 28, verses 11 to 15. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:51.040 Of all of the Gospels, only Matthew recounts this event. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.199 Obviously, it's of some special importance to him. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:06:01.040 He brings it out here as one of the last three scenes of the gospel. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:04.319 Let's look at verse 11 and we'll read through verse 15. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:17.120 As they were on their way, speaking to the women that were introduced to us earlier, some of the guards who were guarding the tomb of Jesus came into the city and reported to the chief priest everything that had happened. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:25.680 After the priest had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and told them, Say this. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:30.000 His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:35.439 If this reaches the governor's ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:43.680 They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among the Jewish people to this day. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:46.000 What an interesting account. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:49.279 Jesus is not mentioned in here at all. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:58.879 And when we look at this passage, it sits, as I said, as part of a set of three accounts after the resurrection. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:05.360 First account, which Micah led all of us through last week, verses one through 10. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:13.439 And then what we'll look at next week in verses 16 through the end of the chapter, the Great Commission and the Resurrection. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:22.319 Now, if you took 11 to 15 out of there, you would see that those first and third accounts really do feel like they're seamless. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:41.839 You've got the resurrection, you've got the angel appearing to the women who had come to the tomb, you have them leaving, you have Jesus speaking to them and telling them to talk to the other disciples, and then the 11 disciples go where they're instructed to go in verse 16, and Jesus appears to them in Galilee. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:49.600 You could remove this whole section and not even lose one step along the way. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:53.199 But Matthew includes it here. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:56.000 Why is it here? 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.519 What is it that's important for us to hear? 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:04.959 What can we learn from this story about soldiers who left the tomb? 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:10.240 What can we learn from what they saw and what they said so long ago? 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:18.560 Well, before we answer that question, those questions, let's just take a little better look at this passage of scripture. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:21.199 And there are some things that I want us to note in this. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:23.759 First of all, the concerned guards. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:38.240 You might recall in the last chapter, in answer to the request of the chief priest, Pilate ordered the Jewish leaders to take soldiers and bring them to the tomb and to secure the tomb of Jesus Christ. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:40.320 So they did that. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:47.840 They took the soldiers to the tomb, they placed a seal around the gap between the stone and the outer wall of the tomb, and the guards were posted. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:09:00.000 And as was customary in that time, there would have been a cache of guards who would have worked on rotation at regular intervals, and it wouldn't have been a difficult or a long task for them. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:03.919 They were only meant to be there for a few days. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:11.600 The Jewish leaders were afraid of the body of Jesus Christ being taken away in those crucial first three days. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:17.679 And so come Monday, these men would have been released of this charge and could have gone home. 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:22.960 And I'm sure in the light of what soldiers did, this was probably an easy task for them. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:35.360 They've had to guard all kinds of people, prisoners, enemy soldiers, having to guard places that were quite dangerous, and now they're just being asked to guard a dead body. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:37.600 Not a hard task. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:43.840 But early Sunday morning, something happened that they weren't prepared for. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.840 Take a look at verse 2. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:52.639 There was a violent earthquake because the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:55.600 He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:59.600 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:05.440 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:23.840 We lose sight of the guards for a little while as the angel addresses the women who were there in giving them assurances not to be afraid, but to rejoice that the Jesus that they'd come, who was crucified, was not in the place that they thought he was, because he was risen. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:28.080 And they were instructed by this angel to go tell the other disciples. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:35.120 And so we see in verse 8, they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:38.799 They ran to tell the disciples the news. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:58.559 And that brings us to this interesting parallel: that as the ladies are leaving to go tell the news of the resurrected Christ, at the same time, some of the guards are leaving to go tell the chief priest of the resurrected Christ. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:08.080 And Matthew says that they told the chief priest everything that had happened. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:14.320 Which means they also knew of the resurrection. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:22.240 What they saw and what they said at the beginning was crystal clear. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.600 They knew the facts, they told the facts. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.320 What they saw, they spoke about. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:42.879 But these guards knew they'd be in big trouble when people realized that the dead man that they were guarding had overpowered death and had escaped their grip. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:51.840 For just a moment, these guards were in the exact same place as the women. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:12:02.960 For a moment they were caught up in the wonder of something that had invaded the traditional norm of human history. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:17.919 They were equally amazed, they were equally fearful, but one was joyful, and one set was concerned about their own neck. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:30.320 Remarkably, in spite of all that they had saw, they refused to have faith in this empty tomb. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:32.879 Jesus Christ. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.879 They didn't leave the tomb with the wondrous joy that the women did. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:43.679 They didn't leave the tomb with the knowledge that Jesus was alive and had conquered death. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:52.639 They fled with worrisome fear for their own lives that people would discover that they were unable to keep a dead man in his own grave. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:06.720 And their interaction with that empty tomb only became an instrument of their judgment rather than a place of their eternal hope. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.759 That leads us to the second part I want us to just note here. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.440 The crafted plan. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.440 The crafted plan. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.919 They came to the chief priest, reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.840 And after the chief priest had assembled with the elders, they agreed on a plan. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.039 They gave the soldiers a large sum of money, told them to say this. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:30.240 His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:36.720 And if this reaches the governor's ears, we'll deal with him and keep you out of trouble. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.200 They had assembled very officially. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:57.120 They had agreed on a plan, which in the Greek is an indication that this was sort of a very significant, decided way of action that this group, the Sanhedrin, was putting into action. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.440 The resolution had three parts. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:03.039 First of all, to bribe the soldiers, secondly, to spread the lie. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:08.000 And third, to protect the soldiers from any possible reprisal by Pilate. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:15.200 The first part tells us that they gave the soldiers a large sum of money. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.399 Well, there probably was at least a dozen soldiers. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:25.120 And because of the risk that was involved, I'm sure it wasn't just a small amount that kept them quiet. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.840 And the word for money there is silver, literally. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:38.480 The exact same term that's used when these same men paid off Judas to betray Jesus. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:42.879 Secondly, the lie. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:52.559 The soldiers were instructed to say, his disciples came by night and took the body while we were sleeping. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:04.399 It must have been a large amount of money because these soldiers were very well aware that their life was at stake for falling asleep at the post. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:11.200 The penalty for sleeping on duty was death. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:17.120 In Acts chapter 12, Peter is released from prison by the work of another angel. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:26.159 And it says in Acts chapter 12, verses 18 and 19, that there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:31.120 In verse 19, Herod had searched and did not find him. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:37.039 He interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:45.679 Then Herod went down from Judah, Judea, to Caesarea and stayed there. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:49.440 That was the fate of these soldiers. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:55.600 If they gave this lie out, they did so at the risk of their own neck. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:01.440 So I'm sure they found that paycheck to be, well, good enough to risk your life for. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.400 Oh, that threat again. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:39.839 And so Pilate handed him over to be crucified. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:52.960 With Pilate already bending to the will of these men once, and his new alliance that he had with Herod, he was well disposed to give in again. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:18:04.319 And he wasn't going to risk his own neck for the neck of some soldiers and this body that mysteriously is gone. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:13.279 Let's back up a little bit and just take a little extra look at the conspired lie for a moment. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:23.759 We see these concerned soldiers, we see this crafted plan, but it contains a lie, and there's a reason why we need to pay some attention to it. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:33.440 Now, notice, first of all, that these men do not try to deny the empty tomb, they try to explain it. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:43.279 And I think that's an important point because they're looking at an empty spot there where Jesus was placed. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:54.480 And they're not denying the resurrection, they're trying to explain the disappearance of Jesus. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:03.039 And the concocted story that they posit raises more questions than it answers. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:09.599 Their device story was weak and easily discredited. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:15.920 And it becomes an argument for the resurrection that they were trying to deny. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:21.599 And because it comes from Jesus' enemies, I think it carries all the more weight. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:25.920 Let's just examine it with a few different things. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:34.960 First of all, if this story was true, the Jewish leaders could have found the stolen body without a whole lot of difficulty. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:39.200 They had already been given soldiers to guard the tomb. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:45.119 If they had requested more soldiers to find the body, I'm sure they would have been given to them. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:53.920 They could have had hundreds of men out scouring the city looking for the body of Jesus Christ. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:59.759 Probably would have been very difficult for these 11 men to. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:05.279 To succeed in eluding the search of the Roman soldiers. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:12.000 The simplest way to have disproved the resurrection was simply to find the body. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:21.920 But there's no evidence, obviously, that they found the body, and there's no evidence at all that the Sanhedrin even attempted to find the body. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.759 They simply tried to explain it away. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:32.480 And because they didn't search for the body, they knew there was not a body to be found. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.480 They already knew the resurrection was true. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:50.400 Secondly, this whole argument doesn't take into consideration the state of the disciples after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:21:02.640 When we read the Gospels, one of the strongest arguments about the authenticity of the Gospels is that the men who write these Gospels put themselves in the worst light possible. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:11.359 Peter is always contradicting his Lord and put into his place, time and again. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:17.039 As uh I think it was John MacArthur said that Peter was the apostle with the foot-shaped mouth. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:19.119 He was always putting his foot in it. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:25.599 And when the crucifixion happened, they scattered. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:30.880 And the scriptures tell us that they were hiding for fear of their lives. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:45.519 Does this sound at all like the kind of men that are going to be traipsing into a cemetery and trying to overpower Roman soldiers in order to steal the body and fabricate something about there being a resurrection? 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:48.720 No, I don't think so. 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:56.079 These men had even less belief in the resurrection than they did before the death of Jesus Christ. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:09.519 And when the women reported the resurrection to us in Luke chapter 24, it said, these words appeared to the apostles as nonsense and they wouldn't believe. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:34.240 He's finally getting the credit he deserved for his whole life. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.559 He's put into a place of prominence in one of the best tombs in the area. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:44.799 There's no reason they had to counterfeit the resurrection. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:54.319 And they certainly didn't have the wherewithal to muster the courage and the ingenuity to steal the body and then boldly proclaim he was resurrected. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:23:06.480 Now, the time will come when the apostles very bravely and boldly proclaim that grand truth of the resurrection of Christ, and they do so with great joy. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.759 But that's because they saw the resurrected Christ, not because they contrived a story. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:24.079 Also, it's really improbable that the soldiers would have gone to sleep long enough for the disciples to do this. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:32.160 Remember, there was a stone rolled over there, there was a seal put on it, and there was a watch that these soldiers would have. 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:36.960 They would only be on duty for about three hours at a time in rotation. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:40.079 Staying awake for three hours isn't too difficult. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:49.759 And then there's a number of bullet point questions that this argument really can't answer. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:55.440 If the soldiers were asleep after all, how do they know who stole the body? 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:57.759 Right? 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:01.599 Yeah, you've been woken up from a dead sleep, and what do you do? 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:02.799 Where am I? 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:05.599 So, what happened 10 minutes ago? 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:06.559 I have no idea. 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:07.920 I was dreaming. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:21.839 If some onlooker had told them that the disciples had come while they were sleeping and stolen the body, why didn't they just get up and run after them and find these guys toting a body away? 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.559 And then there's the question of the grave clothes. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:30.000 They were found inside the tomb. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:41.759 Do you really think the disciples would have come in there and unwrapped Jesus and left the clothes and carried off a decomposing body? 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.039 No, they would have just grabbed the whole thing and run off. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:59.440 This conspiring lie is full of confounding puzzlement when you really look at it. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:01.519 It can't hold water. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.480 That leads us to one last point to look at here. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:10.319 The conflicting opposition. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:19.920 We looked at the concerned soldiers, the crafted plan, the conspiring lie, and now the conflicting opposition. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:27.039 Matthew says right at the end of this in verse 15 that the soldiers did as they were instructed. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:32.960 They took the money and they ran to go tell a story that they knew risked their own lives. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:38.000 And it says, This story has been spread among the Jewish people to this day. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:46.960 Matthew wrote this gospel about 30 years after the events of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:50.880 This story has continued for three decades. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:59.839 These tomb guards were the first to offer it. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:07.599 The Sanhedrin also took it up, and it kept on moving forward for 30 years. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:17.359 But not only for 30 years, Justin Martyr in the second century, in his dialogue with Trephoe, wrote this. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:35.920 He said, You Jewish leaders have sent chosen and ordained men throughout the world to proclaim that a godless and lawless heresy has sprung up from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, and now deceived men are asserting that he's risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:43.279 This exact same lie is not only 30 years old by now, it's over 130 years old by now. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:49.920 And you can still hear that same falsehood told today. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:54.160 So what are we to learn from this? 00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:00.960 This little interjection of the resurrection story, this scene where Jesus is absent. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:15.279 All of us thinking about the resurrection of Christ would be filled with delight if we had more information about what Jesus did in those times on earth while he was alive after the resurrection. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:16.319 Where did he go? 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:17.359 What did he say? 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:19.359 How did he interact with the disciples? 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:20.559 What was his body like? 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:22.720 We've got a million and one questions. 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:28.079 Matthew just sets all of that aside in order to tell us this. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:29.519 Why? 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:30.960 Why, Matthew? 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:35.599 Why did you interrupt all of that you had to say for this moment? 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:49.759 Well, there's some significance to this narrative, and one of the significances that we get out of this is that God's people will face opposition in this world. 00:27:50.799 --> 00:28:01.279 Remember, Matthew's writing 30 years after the events to people who are disciples of Jesus Christ and are being confronted with this question: what happened to the body? 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:04.480 Well, the guards say it was stolen by the disciples. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:16.559 They're facing from family and friends these accusations that the resurrection actually never happened, but something more nefarious had taken place. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:33.680 And so before we get to the Great Commission, which is what we'll look at next week, Matthew wants to set us up for the realization that we're bringing the message of the good news of Jesus Christ into a world of opposition. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:43.759 A world filled with its own set of explanations that are going to be running contrary to the gospel message. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:50.240 Not to be surprised by that, and not to be worried by it either. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:57.920 Second thing that we learn here, a second point of significance, is that the deception is deep. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.319 The deception is deep. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:12.000 Now, for these Jewish leaders, there were three reasons why this was a repulsive event, the resurrection. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:15.599 First of all, it ran totally contrary to their theology. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:23.359 They did not believe in a resurrection of anything at all, not even a resurrection of the dead at the last day. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:26.640 They believed that there was no resurrection. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:33.599 And that's why they would taunt Jesus with these questions when he was on earth and teach in his teaching ministry. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:43.680 So a man married a woman and she died, and then another one the man died, and the woman married her brother, and another one, and he died, and another one, and he died. 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:45.680 Whose wife will she be in the resurrection? 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:49.279 We don't believe in a resurrection. 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:53.359 They were just taunting Jesus with these questions. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:30:06.079 And so this idea that there was really a resurrection and it was the Jesus, the Messiah, well, they couldn't, they couldn't handle that. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:11.039 But they also couldn't handle it for personal security reasons. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:27.839 If it got out that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead, and they were the ones that convinced the crowds to cry out, crucify him, crucify him, and he really was the Messiah, oh boy. 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:36.640 If the whole world knows that we're the ones that instigated the death of the Messiah, we are in serious trouble. 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:38.960 We've got to have reason here. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:50.960 And then it was a threat to their authority as religious leaders, not only a theological threat and not only a personal threat, but a threat to their status. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:03.359 They were loving the places where they lived, the finest houses in Jerusalem, in the best situated place that you could be next to the temple. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:08.960 They loved being greeted as rabbi in the street corners. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:15.759 They loved all the flowing robes that they could wear that made them stand out from the rest of the populace. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:26.319 They loved that with a word together they could control the destiny of the nation and turn the mind of Roman governors. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:28.400 They loved all of that. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:31.279 This was a threat. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:53.200 The only alternative was to let go of their erroneous theological positions, to let go of their self-protection, and to let go of any claim to status that they had and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:01.519 And Jesus' claim on us is no different today than it was to them then. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:07.759 The guards, well, they had a lot to lose too. 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:09.440 We've already talked about that. 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:21.599 With this tomb empty that they were charged to guard, well, they came back worrying that their neck was going to be off of their head was going to be off of their neck. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:28.240 In their desperation, they chose to conspire with these Jewish leaders. 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:37.839 And they became the propagators of a pathetic rumor that lasted to Matthew's day and beyond. 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:45.839 You see, evidence has no sway in a heart determined to say no. 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:47.920 That's something we learn here. 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.000 The deception is deep. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:53.440 Jesus had been raised from the dead. 00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:54.559 Did they believe that? 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:56.319 No, they did not. 00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:02.400 They would not believe what was right before them. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:09.440 These leaders had been get trying to get rid of Jesus seemingly from the very beginning. 00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:17.359 Herod tried to eliminate Christ by slaughtering all the mill babies in his province to remove him as some threat to the throne. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:32.079 These religious leaders accused Jesus of working miracles in the power of Satan, of being associated with sinners, of breaking God's law on the Sabbath, of blaspheming for claiming to be the Messiah and God's son. 00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:41.039 They perverted justice, both biblical justice and even the justice of their own rabbinic teaching, in order to convict Christ. 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:50.880 They used blackmail to get Jesus crucified, and they used an armed force to try to keep his body in the grave. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:34:02.000 And now they've engaged in bribery to cause a false rumor to be said about the resurrection. 00:34:03.839 --> 00:34:09.920 These men were in no position at all to try to verify the claims of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:16.320 They didn't want to know, and therefore they weren't going to know. 00:34:18.320 --> 00:34:22.480 It didn't matter that Jesus had performed marvelous miracles before their eyes. 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.639 And it shows us just how much they lied. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:29.360 John, your question from a few weeks ago, right? 00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:33.599 Let him come down from the cross and we will believe him. 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:39.119 Let him come out of the grave and we'll believe him. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:41.920 They didn't then and they didn't again. 00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:47.679 They were informed about the resurrection. 00:34:47.840 --> 00:35:01.440 They didn't try to deny it, they just wanted to explain it away, to keep the news from other people, from having its sway and influence, so that they can continue to walk down the pathway that they're accustomed to walk down. 00:35:02.719 --> 00:35:05.599 But now their duplicity is exposed. 00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:15.280 And yet they drive themselves deeper and deeper and deeper into the deception. 00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:31.920 Someone said nothing is harder to kill than a lie. 00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:35.039 That's probably true. 00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:44.320 Daniel Defoe, the guy who wrote Robin Caruso, also wrote a little poem called The True Born Englishman in 1701. 00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:52.639 And in it he says this wherever God erects a house of prayer, the devil always builds a chapel there. 00:35:53.280 --> 00:35:58.880 And twill be found upon examination that the latter has the largest congregation. 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:07.119 Sometimes the good news seems too good to be true. 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:15.760 And the devil wants us to make it that is perhaps too good to be true. 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:22.000 That the hoax becomes more believable than the truth. 00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:31.440 These religious leaders and these guards had the opportunity to know the truth that could transform their lives, but they rejected it. 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:41.599 And they put out a message that has continued to be deceiving to people for generations and centuries to come. 00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:50.800 So we realize, as God's people, what we deal with today is opposition. 00:36:51.199 --> 00:37:09.599 An opposition that's not merely an opposition of argument, but an opposition of heart, an opposition of something core within the soul that says no to God, no matter how blaring his truth is in their ears. 00:37:11.679 --> 00:37:28.000 And so we learn from this not to be afraid and not to be daunted by this, but to continue to share the message of Christ with joy and with generosity of heart, that he truly is alive, that he saves all who call upon him. 00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:47.920 There's one more point here, and I don't want to address us as a church in this point, but to address perhaps those of us who are here or maybe listening later through the um through the YouTube video, you have an answer, but you need more. 00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:57.039 We live in a day when religion is looked on as merely a matter of preference or opinion. 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:08.800 When many people believe that all religions really fundamentally are the same, and the differences, well, perhaps crucial to those who want to argue about them, are just superficial things. 00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:13.920 Go about your life, choose the way that's best for you. 00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:26.400 And along the way, the question of truth, well, that can be completely avoided because it really is just a matter of one's own truth that matters anyway. 00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:34.159 But I have to say, living that way is a costly mistake, not just for life, but also for eternity. 00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:40.639 Belief that is empty of truth is an irresponsible belief. 00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:46.800 We don't operate that way in most areas of life. 00:38:47.440 --> 00:39:00.719 We certainly wouldn't go to a bank and ask for a withdrawal of our money and have the teller say to us, I just feel today that you don't have any money in your bank account today, and uh we're not going to give you any cash. 00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:07.440 And you're gonna say to that bank teller, Well, what you feel about my bank account right now doesn't really matter. 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:11.679 Because I know there's money in there and I would like it, please. 00:39:11.920 --> 00:39:13.519 Can I see your manager? 00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:23.199 We don't operate on feelings or opinions, or it's all really all truth anyway, or it's your truth, not mine. 00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:25.280 We don't operate that way. 00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:33.039 Why would we operate this way about one of the most eternally important questions? 00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:41.360 Would we think that God really just leaves it up to our own opinion on how we think it's best to approach him? 00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:44.559 No. 00:39:46.239 --> 00:40:14.960 He's given us facts of a human person who is also God, who came to this earth and lived a sinless life, who taught us things that no other human Ever contrived, who lived a life that no other human has ever lived, who said before he died that he would be brought to Jerusalem and crucified, and yet on the third day rise from the dead. 00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:16.159 And he did. 00:40:17.519 --> 00:40:18.800 Listen to him. 00:40:20.559 --> 00:40:21.679 Listen to him. 00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:34.639 Matthew records not the opinions or the feelings or the perspectives of a religious ideal, but the facts of a man. 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:40.639 And the body matters because your body matters. 00:40:43.599 --> 00:40:47.599 Our eternity hangs on what happens here with Jesus Christ. 00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:52.639 Did Jesus rise from the dead? 00:40:53.039 --> 00:40:54.639 That's the question. 00:40:57.039 --> 00:41:01.760 We're not talking about resuscitation or some notion of reincarnation. 00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:04.400 We're talking about resurrection. 00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:07.039 Was Jesus dead on the cross? 00:41:07.199 --> 00:41:18.079 Was he taken down, prepared for burial, and stuck in a tomb for three days, and then come out alive or not? 00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:22.719 This is not a question of preference. 00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:25.039 This is a question of truth. 00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:32.000 Paul takes up that very question in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:41.280 And he says, basically, if Jesus isn't really risen from the dead, we're wasting our time here. 00:41:41.519 --> 00:41:44.880 Everything that we've done here is worse than useless. 00:41:45.039 --> 00:41:48.079 It's actually a fabrication of a lie. 00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:57.199 He said, we are to be more pitied than anyone if in this life only we have hope in Christ. 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:01.679 But he doesn't stop there. 00:42:02.960 --> 00:42:12.559 He says, but as it is, Christ has been risen from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 00:42:12.880 --> 00:42:18.000 His body matters because your body matters to God. 00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:40.800 His resurrection is the hope for our resurrection, that this life is not all there is to existence for humanity, that there is something after death, and there can be for those who believe in Jesus Christ a reception into the throne of God with full acceptance and no condemnation. 00:42:42.800 --> 00:42:44.639 This is the good news. 00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:50.639 For in Adam all die, but in Christ all shall be made alive. 00:42:52.320 --> 00:42:56.960 The question is, are you still walking in the disobedience of Adam? 00:42:57.199 --> 00:43:04.559 Or are you hidden in Christ, in his obedience, and in his suffering death? 00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:14.880 Matthew's account shows us forcibly that the truth of the resurrection is absolutely vital. 00:43:15.199 --> 00:43:22.800 And even a lie is used to help purport its truth. 00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:48.639 Simon Greeleaf, who was a 19th-century professor of law at Harvard, wrote this All that Christianity asks of men is that they would be consistent with themselves, that they would treat its evidences as they treat the evidences of other things, and that they would try and judge its actors and witnesses as they deal with their fellow men. 00:43:48.880 --> 00:44:02.559 When testifying to human affairs and actions in human tribunals, the result, if they do that, will be an undoubting conviction of Christianity's integrity, ability, and truth. 00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:08.159 But you need more. 00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:10.559 But you need more. 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:18.159 Because the problem isn't a problem of information, the problem is a problem of the heart. 00:44:19.039 --> 00:44:23.679 And it's not about being persuaded with your intellectual questions. 00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:33.119 It is rather, will you submit yourself to this risen Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? 00:44:34.880 --> 00:44:37.920 Will you give up the things that are dear to you? 00:44:38.239 --> 00:44:50.480 Just like the chief priests were confronted with giving up their theological constructs, giving up their personal safety, giving up their status and prestige. 00:44:51.599 --> 00:44:55.920 Are you willing to give up those things that are cherished by you? 00:44:57.119 --> 00:44:59.360 To give them to Jesus Christ. 00:45:19.440 --> 00:45:21.519 Now hear it with welcome. 00:45:22.639 --> 00:45:34.159 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. 00:45:36.559 --> 00:45:44.960 For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 00:45:46.320 --> 00:46:05.840 Those were the very words on September 11th, 1983, that cracked the will of me and caused me to bow my heart before Jesus Christ and to ask him to forgive me of all the things that I had done. 00:46:07.199 --> 00:46:09.199 Was it a question of information? 00:46:10.239 --> 00:46:12.159 I needed something more. 00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:45.599 And this is what Paul is saying: give yourself to him who has conquered death on the behalf of people just like you, who has gone to the cross, so that the words from God, you are forgiven, might be your words, so that those who were once enemies could now be reconciled to God through the death of Christ. 00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:50.159 Is that not worth giving yourself to? 00:46:51.280 --> 00:46:55.760 Is he not one worthy of your allegiance and your life? 00:46:56.719 --> 00:47:04.719 Is he not one to give up your constructs, your safety, your prestige for? 00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:14.159 What you lose in this life is nothing in comparison to what you gain in Christ. 00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:26.000 Salvation belongs to those who not only believe in the resurrection, but those who confess Him as Lord and Savior. 00:47:27.599 --> 00:47:31.119 This little episode here teaches us a lot, doesn't it? 00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:40.639 It teaches us that as believers in this world, we're going to face opposition, that the deception is deep, that lies have legs. 00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:57.440 But we also need to remember to continue to tell folks, yes, the truth of the resurrection, but we need to press home to the conscience of those that we're talking to, not just to the arguments of those that we're talking to. 00:47:57.679 --> 00:47:59.519 Let's pray together. 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:09.360 Our Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for Christ is risen, risen from the dead. 00:48:09.599 --> 00:48:16.400 We're so grateful that we can look death in the eye and say, Oh, death, where is your sting? 00:48:16.639 --> 00:48:18.960 Oh, death, where is your victory? 00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:24.079 Because we know that the victory has already been won through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:48:24.400 --> 00:48:28.320 Thanks be to you, God, for the victory that is found in Him. 00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:35.760 And Lord, I pray for anyone who doesn't yet submit themselves to Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Savior. 00:48:36.079 --> 00:48:41.920 Lord, that you and your mercy and grace would awaken them with fear until they find rest in him. 00:48:42.559 --> 00:48:50.239 Awaken them to a dissatisfaction of the life that they've lived until they find an eternal satisfaction in Christ. 00:48:50.880 --> 00:48:59.679 Awaken them, Father, for your glory's sake as you display your mercy and grace upon another undeserving person just like us. 00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:02.320 And we pray this, Father, in Christ's name. 00:49:02.639 --> 00:49:03.280 Amen.