Micah McCormick: Let's turn to the Gospel of Matthew, first book of the Christian New Testament.
Micah McCormick: We're working through this book and we're in the final chapter of Matthew today.
Micah McCormick: Matthew chapter 28.
Micah McCormick: If you are using the Pew Bible, you'll find that on page 885.
Micah McCormick: Matthew 28.
Micah McCormick: Our passage this morning covers the first ten verses of this chapter.
Micah McCormick: So I'm going to read it for us, Matthew chapter 28, verses 1 through 10.
Micah McCormick: This is God's word.
Micah McCormick: After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.
Micah McCormick: There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb.
Micah McCormick: He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it.
Micah McCormick: His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.
Micah McCormick: The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.
Micah McCormick: The angel told the women, Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
Micah McCormick: He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said, Come and see the place where he lay.
Micah McCormick: Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee.
Micah McCormick: You will see him there.
Micah McCormick: Listen, I have told you.
Micah McCormick: So departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news.
Micah McCormick: Just then Jesus met them and said, Greetings.
Micah McCormick: They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him.
Micah McCormick: Then Jesus told them, Do not be afraid.
Micah McCormick: Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.
Micah McCormick: Let's look briefly again to the Lord.
Micah McCormick: Father, we come to you acknowledging that this is this is your word, it's a living word.
Micah McCormick: We thank you today that we can speak to one another through psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Micah McCormick: We can sing our praises to you, and yet we also acknowledge that you are the God who speaks to us.
Micah McCormick: And so please be gracious to us to speak through your word this morning as we listen.
Micah McCormick: In Jesus' name.
Micah McCormick: Amen.
Micah McCormick: Despite accepting the biblical accounts of Jesus' resurrection, many Americans see little connection with their daily lives.
Micah McCormick: That's the kind of provocative opening sentence of an article that was published in 2023 based on a survey by Lifeway, sponsored by Legioner Ministry.
Micah McCormick: So they ask a lot of questions.
Micah McCormick: And one of the things that they discovered in this particular survey, and they asked 3,000 people, so this is not a small survey, even Gallup surveys usually survey less people than that.
Micah McCormick: But according to that survey of Americans that they put out, two-thirds of US adults say that the biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus are accurate and true.
Micah McCormick: Two-thirds.
Micah McCormick: But 60% of people also say that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion, not objective truth.
Micah McCormick: So it's kind of hard to like fit that together.
Micah McCormick: And there's a growing number of people that say God is really unconcerned with our day-to-day decisions and lives.
Micah McCormick: So one author, kind of trying to look at that data and summarize it, said this that that survey exposes the danger of cultural Christianity, the vague ascent to Christian beliefs, without any evidence of real faith in Christ.
Micah McCormick: Today we're going to see that the resurrection has dramatic implications for the world and for our lives.
Micah McCormick: The resurrection is life-changing.
Micah McCormick: I'm not going to spend time today arguing for the resurrection.
Micah McCormick: There are great books on that.
Micah McCormick: Bonner mentioned one last week, Case for Christ.
Micah McCormick: But Matthew doesn't really do that here in our passage.
Micah McCormick: He just announces the resurrection.
Micah McCormick: He is risen.
Micah McCormick: That's the title this morning.
Micah McCormick: He is risen.
Micah McCormick: But especially for those of us who would say, yes, I believe in the resurrection, but then are we understanding the significance of it?
Micah McCormick: And what I want to do this morning is bring to you five things that the resurrection brings.
Micah McCormick: So take us through this text with five things that the resurrection brings.
Micah McCormick: First, the resurrection of Jesus brings an inaugurated creation.
Micah McCormick: Now that's kind of a big word.
Micah McCormick: What do I mean by that?
Micah McCormick: Well, something's inaugurated, it's begun, it's started, the celebration is here, but it's not yet fully complete.
Micah McCormick: And Jesus, in his rising from the grave, he inaugurates a creation, a new creation.
Micah McCormick: Now we haven't seen the final creation yet.
Micah McCormick: That's coming when he returns again, but it really has begun.
Micah McCormick: Why do I say that?
Micah McCormick: Look at verse number one.
Micah McCormick: After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary went to view the tomb.
Micah McCormick: All right, Jesus rose on Sunday.
Micah McCormick: What does that to do with his creation?
Micah McCormick: Well, the text mentions Sabbath.
Micah McCormick: It's actually used two different times in the original language here, this concept of a Sabbath.
Micah McCormick: And that concept first presents itself back in the pages of Genesis when God created the world in six days, and then he rested on the seventh day.
Micah McCormick: So we've got this original account of creation followed by a Sabbath.
Micah McCormick: And we still have that pattern today of six days and then a seventh day, seven-day weeks.
Micah McCormick: He made that pattern more explicit with the Jews under the old covenant, work six days and then rest on the seventh day.
Micah McCormick: So the text tells us Jesus is resurrected after the Sabbath.
Micah McCormick: So a whole week has transpired.
Micah McCormick: The Sabbath was the sixth day of the week.
Micah McCormick: Whole week has transpired.
Micah McCormick: It's the seventh day of the week, excuse me.
Micah McCormick: Whole week has transpired.
Micah McCormick: And now it's the start of a new week.
Micah McCormick: It's the eighth day of the old week.
Micah McCormick: It's the first day of the new week, but it's after this whole week has passed and the Sabbath has come.
Micah McCormick: So it's the eighth day.
Micah McCormick: Now, why do I say that?
Micah McCormick: Well, there's some significant events that happen in the Bible on the eighth day.
Micah McCormick: Leviticus 23, 36.
Micah McCormick: Excuse me.
Micah McCormick: On the eighth day, you were to hold a sacred assembly before the Lord.
Micah McCormick: Nehemiah 8:18.
Micah McCormick: Ezra read out of the book of the law of God every day, from the first day to the last, the Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance.
Micah McCormick: So there's a pattern of having these assemblies of renewed worship on the eighth day.
Micah McCormick: Children were circumcised on the eighth day.
Micah McCormick: A new week, a new life, a new beginning, a new covenant relationship.
Micah McCormick: Jesus himself was circumcised on the eighth day.
Micah McCormick: So Jesus could have been raised on the second day or the fifth day, but he's raised on the first day of the week, which is the dawn of a new week and a new creation in God's plan.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 1 tells us that Jesus is the faithful and true witness.
Micah McCormick: And then in Revelation 3:14, there's a message for the church in Laodicea.
Micah McCormick: This is what the Amen says, the faithful and true witness describing Jesus.
Micah McCormick: And then it calls him the beginning of God's creation.
Micah McCormick: Kind of a strange thing to say about Jesus.
Micah McCormick: He was not created in time right before Adam and Eve or right after Adam and Eve.
Micah McCormick: He existed eternally as the Son of God from eternity past.
Micah McCormick: But he is the firstborn and faithful witness from the dead, who's the beginning of God's new creation work.
Micah McCormick: That's why Paul can say, if anyone is in Christ, he is new creation.
Micah McCormick: The old is passed away, the new has come.
Micah McCormick: I am tired of sin in my heart.
Micah McCormick: But the new creation is here.
Micah McCormick: We're still wrestling with effects of the old creation, but the new creation has dawned in Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: So take comfort today that the buds are already in bloom.
Micah McCormick: If you belong to Christ, you too are part of the new creation.
Micah McCormick: The resurrection brings an inaugurated creation.
Micah McCormick: Second, the resurrection of Jesus brings a powerful king.
Micah McCormick: One of the characters we find in this passage is an angel.
Micah McCormick: You find the angel first in verse number two.
Micah McCormick: There was a violent earthquake because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb.
Micah McCormick: He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it.
Micah McCormick: There was a violent earthquake because an angel came.
Micah McCormick: Most people estimate that the stones that were covering these kind of tombs would have weighed at least one ton.
Micah McCormick: The book of Mark calls this stone very large.
Micah McCormick: And the angel just casually rolls it back and sits on it.
Micah McCormick: Angels are divine warriors.
Micah McCormick: They're sent out in behalf of their king.
Micah McCormick: They're not chubby, they don't wear diapers in the Bible, they are divine warriors.
Micah McCormick: The Lord has his army of angels and he rules.
Micah McCormick: And the angel is here to show these Roman soldiers, to show the Roman soldiers, there's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: In verse 4, the guards are so shaken with fear, they become like dead men.
Micah McCormick: Do you hear the irony?
Micah McCormick: Jesus is supposed to be the dead man that they're watching over.
Micah McCormick: But now these these strong guards who are obviously trained not to cower in fear, they're so fearful that they become as the dead ones.
Micah McCormick: They're overwhelmed at the sight of the king's messenger and the sight of his great might.
Micah McCormick: Last week, Banu mentioned a defeated power.
Micah McCormick: Look back up to chapter 27 for a moment.
Micah McCormick: Verse 65, just to bring us back in with what we were looking at just last week, you have a guard of soldiers, Pilate told them.
Micah McCormick: Go and make it, that is the tomb, as secure as you know how.
Micah McCormick: They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.
Micah McCormick: Now, I think professional soldiers at risk of their own lives would well know how to make a tomb secure.
Micah McCormick: The issue was not that they were somehow overwhelmed by a ragtag band of disillusioned fishermen, as that that were even possible.
Micah McCormick: No, it didn't take the disciples, it just took one angel to release the stone.
Micah McCormick: It says the tomb was sealed.
Micah McCormick: We hear that, and we sometimes think that, okay, there's like this small stone, and they have some kind of like super glue they put around it to make sure like you just can't get into it, and maybe to keep the smell inside.
Micah McCormick: That's not really what's going on here.
Micah McCormick: There would have been most likely some kind of impressionable clay that would have had the imprint of the Roman imperial guard.
Micah McCormick: It was a government sort of stamp.
Micah McCormick: It might have even been kind of hanging from the tomb on a rope, but it was a seal to say, hey, this stone, this tomb is in charge of the Roman government.
Micah McCormick: And if you mess with this stone, you're messing with the Roman government.
Micah McCormick: And the angel messes with it.
Micah McCormick: He uses it for his own personal barka lounger.
Micah McCormick: He has no problem opening that stone right up.
Micah McCormick: Christ is the risen king.
Micah McCormick: There's no power in heaven or in earth, no military might, no government or leader or political party that can unseat him from his throne.
Micah McCormick: This is just one of his messengers.
Micah McCormick: That's how powerful he is as the king.
Micah McCormick: If we truly believe that the angel is not caring about some earthly verdict or what the soldiers might do, the angel is coming with a heavenly verdict.
Micah McCormick: Christ the King is risen.
Micah McCormick: If we really believe that, how could it not affect our lives?
Micah McCormick: How could we not be struck by recognizing that it's the edicts of King Jesus that matter most in the world?
Micah McCormick: It's not the edicts of this leader or that party.
Micah McCormick: It's what our Lord says that counts most.
Micah McCormick: And that does mean if you're not this morning submitting to King Jesus, that you're in big trouble.
Micah McCormick: You can pride yourself that, well, I'm I'm a righteous citizen.
Micah McCormick: I've never even been to jail.
Micah McCormick: I'm I'm good in the eyes of the government.
Micah McCormick: But what about in the eyes of the one who has flaming fire and knows the secret thoughts of our hearts?
Micah McCormick: We must submit to him.
Micah McCormick: And then the other side of that is if we're if we're submitted to Jesus, if we've turned from our own sins, we're trusting in his work alone, then there's there's nothing for us to fear.
Micah McCormick: Well, didn't this very Roman government kill many of the early disciples?
Micah McCormick: Yes, they did.
Micah McCormick: And those disciples received a better resurrection.
Micah McCormick: Don't fear the one who has power over our bodies, fear the one who has power over our souls, the Lord Himself.
Micah McCormick: As Jesus himself said to Pilate, you would have no authority, no power unless it was granted to you from above.
Micah McCormick: Our King is reigning.
Micah McCormick: Fierce may be the conflict, strong may be the foe, but the king's own army none can overthrow.
Micah McCormick: Round his standard ranging, victory is secure, for his truth unchanging makes the triumph sure.
Micah McCormick: Joyfully enlisting by thy grace divine, we are on the Lord's side.
Micah McCormick: Savior, we are thine.
Micah McCormick: The resurrection of Jesus brings an inaugurated creation, it brings a powerful king.
Micah McCormick: Third, the resurrection of Jesus brings great joy.
Micah McCormick: Verse number eight.
Micah McCormick: So departing from the tomb with fear and great joy.
Micah McCormick: There's a lot of fear in this passage.
Micah McCormick: Verse 4, the guards are shaken with fear.
Micah McCormick: Verse 5, the angel tells the women not to be afraid.
Micah McCormick: Verse 8, the women do depart with fear.
Micah McCormick: Verse number 10, Jesus says, Don't be afraid.
Micah McCormick: But even though they depart with fear, they depart with great joy.
Micah McCormick: Notice that adjective.
Micah McCormick: Fear they have, but their joy is great.
Micah McCormick: Their joy outstrips their fear.
Micah McCormick: I do want to talk about fear for a little bit, though, because it's the fear that sets the stage for the joy.
Micah McCormick: You might wonder if the women are just not listening to the angel.
Micah McCormick: Because the angel tells them don't fear, but then they depart with fear.
Micah McCormick: So they just ignore the angel, or did their minds not quite work in line with their faith?
Micah McCormick: I don't think that's what's going on.
Micah McCormick: You can tell they are striving to listen to the angel because in verse 7, the angel says, go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen.
Micah McCormick: And then in verse eight, they do leave quickly to tell the disciples the news.
Micah McCormick: So they're seeking to be obedient.
Micah McCormick: But you know, there's different kinds of fear, different shades of fear.
Micah McCormick: I think we understand this.
Micah McCormick: The guards are not even described as having any joy whatsoever.
Micah McCormick: They're just, they're just quaking with terrified fear.
Micah McCormick: But the women have some kind of great joy that's mingled with their fear, even as they leave the scene.
Micah McCormick: One thing to keep in mind is that it's just fearful to see an angel.
Micah McCormick: Remember when the angels came to announce to the shepherds the good news of Jesus' birth?
Micah McCormick: First thing they say is, don't fear.
Micah McCormick: Well, that's a good message.
Micah McCormick: Why would they be fearful?
Micah McCormick: When you see a divine warrior like that, your first inclination might be to think you're about to die.
Micah McCormick: It's a terrifying thing.
Micah McCormick: So there's kind of a natural rush of adrenaline that's probably there.
Micah McCormick: But the guards aren't described as followers of Jesus in the way that the women are.
Micah McCormick: The women have been following him ever since Galilee.
Micah McCormick: And they're the ones that are enabled to leave with great joy.
Micah McCormick: What brings the women this great joy is that Christ is fulfilling his word.
Micah McCormick: We see that in verse number six.
Micah McCormick: God himself, as we just step back and think about this resurrection event, God Himself is the one who interprets the resurrection.
Micah McCormick: It's not left for us to decide what the meaning and significance of it is.
Micah McCormick: The whole life and ministry of Jesus Christ is under God's direction.
Micah McCormick: And it's Christ Himself who said he came to give his life a ransom for many.
Micah McCormick: So that part of the good news of the gospel message is brought to us through the resurrection.
Micah McCormick: And we'll come to the message in just a moment.
Micah McCormick: But that's what brings us great joy to know that God is fulfilling his word, and this word is a word of good news for those of us who know him.
Micah McCormick: If sin has been paid for and it's complete, what awestruck joy that should bring into our souls as we meditate on the resurrection.
Micah McCormick: Resurrection.
Micah McCormick: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Micah McCormick: And that's what these women really have here.
Micah McCormick: It's a deep awe and reverence for God as they leave.
Micah McCormick: But it's it's surrounded by this superabounding joy, a weighty joy.
Micah McCormick: That's the best kind of joy.
Micah McCormick: Do you want joy in your life today?
Micah McCormick: Then you can't say, well, the resurrection happened a long time ago.
Micah McCormick: I don't know the significance of it.
Micah McCormick: No.
Micah McCormick: That's the very pathway to joy.
Micah McCormick: And let me hasten to add that those who are trusting in Christ, those who think about the resurrection, this doesn't mean that we'll never ever feel any sadness.
Micah McCormick: When a loved one dies, it's natural to feel sadness.
Micah McCormick: When you're let go from a job, it's natural to feel a sense of disappointment.
Micah McCormick: When you receive difficult news, when your body hurts, you're not going to be leaping for joy every moment.
Micah McCormick: But where do you go?
Micah McCormick: The resurrection is where we go for joy.
Micah McCormick: If you're watching for three hours every night this TV station criticize this person, and then or this TV station criticizing this person, if you're doing that for three hours a day, and then you spend three seconds thanking God for the food and for Jesus, and you wonder, why do I feel so agitated?
Micah McCormick: Why is there so little joy in my life?
Micah McCormick: Well, you you have part of a clue right there.
Micah McCormick: We need to give our hearts and our minds and our souls to reminding ourselves Jesus is risen.
Micah McCormick: God uses his word to spur our faith, a faith that grabs hold of these realities.
Micah McCormick: The woman in our passage, as Matthew describes it here, they haven't yet met Jesus.
Micah McCormick: They will meet him, but based on the word of the angel, based on God's word, their faith grabs hold of that and they leave with great joy.
Micah McCormick: Let your faith grab hold of God's word and just rest there and settle there.
Micah McCormick: That brings us to the fourth thing this morning, the resurrection brings.
Micah McCormick: So it brings an inaugurated creation, it brings a powerful king, it brings great joy.
Micah McCormick: The resurrection of Jesus also brings an urgent message.
Micah McCormick: In verse number seven, the women are told to go quickly and tell those disciples that he's risen.
Micah McCormick: And in verse number eight, they do depart quickly and run to tell the disciples the news.
Micah McCormick: Brothers and sisters, this is a message for all of us to bring.
Micah McCormick: These are just ordinary women.
Micah McCormick: They don't get as much airtime in the book of Acts and in the Gospels as the 12 disciples do, but they're actually presented in some ways in a better light.
Micah McCormick: Judas betrays Jesus, Peter denies him.
Micah McCormick: Here are these faithful women who have followed him from Galilee, and they're still there.
Micah McCormick: They're the first ones that are at the tomb.
Micah McCormick: They're the ones that get to be the first witnesses of his resurrection.
Micah McCormick: Just ordinary people, but they have an urgent message to give.
Micah McCormick: We too have that urgent message to give.
Micah McCormick: Don't say this morning, well, I can't preach like Pastor Doug.
Micah McCormick: I'm not really a verbal person.
Micah McCormick: No.
Micah McCormick: Freely give what you have received.
Micah McCormick: Share.
Micah McCormick: Tell.
Micah McCormick: Verse number seven, they're told to go and tell his disciples he is risen.
Micah McCormick: We should never tire of telling one another the basic truths of the Bible.
Micah McCormick: Every truth in the Bible, but even just those, those, those big points of God's creation, of the fall, but then particularly of Christ, who is the Son of God and Son of Man who came into the world and lived a perfect life and who died and has risen again.
Micah McCormick: We shouldn't tire of telling each other that.
Micah McCormick: He needed to hear that.
Micah McCormick: Who's a person that's this week that's maybe a little discouraged, a little fearful, that you can come and and and grab a hold of them and say, The tomb is empty.
Micah McCormick: Christ is risen.
Micah McCormick: You can't tell his disciples the good news if you're not with his disciples.
Micah McCormick: These women are running to share the message with the disciples.
Micah McCormick: Are we running?
Micah McCormick: Are we eager to be with God's people?
Micah McCormick: That's one of the reasons why church is so important.
Micah McCormick: This is the very best place, not the only place, but it's the best place each week to come and celebrate together all that Christ has done and remind one another of these truths.
Micah McCormick: Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up, speaking of the temple of his body.
Micah McCormick: And we too are the body of Christ.
Micah McCormick: We're living stones stacked on the cornerstone and foundation of Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: That's what the church is, this new temple, this body of Christ.
Micah McCormick: So come weekly, be ready to celebrate and give to one another.
Micah McCormick: You know, there's it's it's an amazing thing.
Micah McCormick: There's even more joy when you experience an event together.
Micah McCormick: I mean, that's why football starting today, and I hope the attendance doesn't drop in half when we go back to our noon service.
Micah McCormick: Because this is even better than football.
Micah McCormick: But there's a reason why people gather in massive stadiums when they could have nice TV viewing.
Micah McCormick: There's something about that group celebration of an event.
Micah McCormick: Friends, the resurrection is world and history altering.
Micah McCormick: This is something even more precious for us to get together and celebrate.
Micah McCormick: And that's what we do each Lord's Day.
Micah McCormick: That's how we gather on the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, because it's a resurrection Sunday.
Micah McCormick: And there's one sense in which every single Sunday should be a resurrection celebration.
Micah McCormick: Now, as urgent and important as that message is, it should not only stay within the church.
Micah McCormick: Yes, we should tell one another, but we want that message to be spreading out from us.
Micah McCormick: We get a hint of that here in our passage, but it's really a compelling hint.
Micah McCormick: Verse number seven, take a look there.
Micah McCormick: The angel says that Christ is going ahead of them to Galilee.
Micah McCormick: Then in verse 10, Jesus tells them to instruct the brothers to leave for Galilee and they will see him there.
Micah McCormick: Why Galilee?
Micah McCormick: Wouldn't you think they'd go back to Jerusalem?
Micah McCormick: Isn't that kind of the main place?
Micah McCormick: That's what they're going to be in the book of Acts.
Micah McCormick: Why Galilee?
Micah McCormick: It's not the only time Christ has mentioned Galilee.
Micah McCormick: If you just turn back to Matthew 26, a couple chapters, verse 32 of Matthew 26.
Micah McCormick: Jesus tells his disciples, After I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.
Micah McCormick: So in Matthew 28, Jesus is simply reiterating that he's going to fulfill what he had said back in Matthew 26.
Micah McCormick: The angel brings that up, and then Christ himself brings that up.
Micah McCormick: But we're still maybe curious, well, okay, why Galilee is this first impulse after the resurrection event?
Micah McCormick: Turn all the way back to Matthew 4.
Micah McCormick: Hold your finger here in Matthew 28, but go all the way back to Matthew 4.
Micah McCormick: We hit this quite a long time ago on Sunday morning.
Micah McCormick: But look at Matthew 4.
Micah McCormick: And in verse number 12, we're told that Jesus withdrew into the region of Galilee.
Micah McCormick: He's been tempted by Satan in the wilderness.
Micah McCormick: And as he begins his public ministry, one of the first places he goes is Galilee.
Micah McCormick: Now look at verse 14.
Micah McCormick: I'll read a few verses.
Micah McCormick: Matthew 4, verse 14.
Micah McCormick: This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah.
Micah McCormick: And for those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
Micah McCormick: From then on, Jesus began to preach, repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.
Micah McCormick: So in the coming of Christ, the kingdom of heaven has come near, it's arrived, it's dawned, it's inaugurated creation.
Micah McCormick: But it's not only Jewish people who live in darkness and need the light of Christ.
Micah McCormick: It's all kinds of people.
Micah McCormick: So Jesus goes to Galilee of the Gentiles.
Micah McCormick: That's well north of Jerusalem.
Micah McCormick: In the Old Testament, it's Jerusalem's enemies who come from the north to attack them.
Micah McCormick: But it's all kinds of people who are sinful and who need the love and redemption of Christ.
Micah McCormick: And it's all kinds of people who will receive that.
Micah McCormick: So Jesus goes to Galilee of the Gentiles.
Micah McCormick: And now He is tells his people, go to Galilee.
Micah McCormick: Because it's not just Jews like them, it's Gentiles and all kinds of people that need to hear that urgent message.
Micah McCormick: Where I've gone, you're going to go.
Micah McCormick: And I'm going ahead of you.
Micah McCormick: We're on the Lord's side.
Micah McCormick: We're part of his team.
Micah McCormick: And be encouraged this morning that Christ goes ahead of us.
Micah McCormick: Now, he went ahead of them with his true resurrection body to Galilee.
Micah McCormick: He didn't stay there.
Micah McCormick: He ascended to heaven, but he sent out his spirit.
Micah McCormick: And we're going to come in Matthew.
Micah McCormick: You can turn back to Matthew 28.
Micah McCormick: We'll come shortly to the end of Matthew 28.
Micah McCormick: So even this instruction to go ahead into Galilee anticipates what he's going to say to them as he leaves the great commission, go into all the worlds and preach the gospel with a promise.
Micah McCormick: I'm with you always, to the very end of the age.
Micah McCormick: Whether we go to Galilee of the Gentiles or Tylau of Cebaru or Valley Stream of Nassau County, he's with us.
Micah McCormick: He's with us in canoes.
Micah McCormick: He's with us at street fair.
Micah McCormick: Our Lord is with us.
Micah McCormick: And I do want to make a special appeal here for these dark places that haven't really yet seen the light of Christ, for places where Christ hasn't been named, where there is no outpost of a gospel church that's been established.
Micah McCormick: How are we marshalling our resources?
Micah McCormick: That would include our finances, but talking about our time, our prayer, our support, our attention.
Micah McCormick: How are we marshalling our resources so that these dark places, yes, Galilee, but then the ends of the earth, can hear this urgent message?
Micah McCormick: Who's gonna pray more?
Micah McCormick: Who among us would say, you know, I want to go with that urgent message to a dark place that hasn't had the light of Christ?
Micah McCormick: The Lamb is worthy.
Micah McCormick: And that brings us to the very final point this morning.
Micah McCormick: The resurrection of Jesus brings wholehearted worship.
Micah McCormick: These women run from the tomb to tell the disciples Jesus meets them in verse number nine.
Micah McCormick: So look at that in chapter 28 of Matthew, verse number nine.
Micah McCormick: Jesus himself greets them, and the text tells us they came up, they took hold of his feet, and they worshiped him.
Micah McCormick: That's the proper instinct of faith to worship the resurrected Lord.
Micah McCormick: Before they go, before they share the message, before they eat whatever they needed to eat to sustain them, they're eager to worship their Christ.
Micah McCormick: The word worship is sometimes associated with kneeling down.
Micah McCormick: It's even translated that way sometimes in our Bibles.
Micah McCormick: And you can see here in our passage, they're worshiping him as they take hold of his feet.
Micah McCormick: That might strike us as a little unusual.
Micah McCormick: Some people suggest they didn't want him to leave that don't go anywhere, Jesus.
Micah McCormick: Well, the text doesn't tell us, they didn't say don't go anywhere.
Micah McCormick: Don't do that.
Micah McCormick: And there's one commentator who references an ancient uh inscription of King Cyrus, who said, as he talked about having other kings subjected to himself, they brought me their full tribute and kissed my feet.
Micah McCormick: The women are acknowledging, even with their posture, that Jesus is the true and great king.
Micah McCormick: They're acknowledging with their whole selves that they're submitted to him and committed to him.
Micah McCormick: But it's more than just a submission.
Micah McCormick: It is that they love him.
Micah McCormick: That's why they've been following him for such a period of distance and time.
Micah McCormick: They love their Lord and it delights their souls to see him and know him and worship him.
Micah McCormick: Psalm 29, 2.
Micah McCormick: Ascribe to the Lord the glory to his name.
Micah McCormick: Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
Micah McCormick: Worship is ascribing glory to the Lord.
Micah McCormick: Matthew doesn't give us a detailed description of what of what worship is, but he gives us a picture, one picture of what worship is in these verses.
Micah McCormick: It's wholehearted, it's devoted.
Micah McCormick: He has real human feet.
Micah McCormick: He's really risen from the dead.
Micah McCormick: We worship Jesus, the Son of God.
Micah McCormick: We worship him as the true and perfect Adam, the true man, and we worship him because in God's mysterious providence, God and man are joined together in Christ.
Micah McCormick: There's the humility of the crucifixion, the power of resurrection life that could command one angel to bring an earthquake and the tomb opening.
Micah McCormick: He's got legions of angels at his disposal.
Micah McCormick: And that brings these women joy.
Micah McCormick: Their worship is a response to his presence and his word.
Micah McCormick: Normally in our service, we begin with God's word.
Micah McCormick: That's just a small way to remind ourselves.
Micah McCormick: Our worship is a response to his revelation.
Micah McCormick: Our worship is a response to not our own ideas about God, but our response to him graciously coming to us and greeting us through his word, just as he greets these women here.
Micah McCormick: And we say, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, come soon to receive your bride to yourself.
Micah McCormick: So we listen to God's word, praying that God would reveal himself to us, that he would tune our hearts to sing his praise.
Micah McCormick: Brothers and sisters, there's so much more we could say.
Micah McCormick: There's so much in Scripture about the resurrection, the significance of these events, the life and ministry of Christ.
Micah McCormick: But but take courage this morning.
Micah McCormick: That the resurrection is no mere trifling thing.
Micah McCormick: We sometimes think about Easter and we think, boy, that ham lunch is going to be something special.
Micah McCormick: I like ham as much as anybody, okay?
Micah McCormick: But that's that's there's something far more earth-splitting.
Micah McCormick: And I use that phrase intentionally about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: There's something about his resurrection that changes the whole course of human history, that could bring in a new creation, that could bring in this powerful ruling king that would give us joy in our souls.
Micah McCormick: And if you don't have that joy, call out to him today.
Micah McCormick: This is an urgent message that we must share.
Micah McCormick: And we do that from a heart that overflows in worship.
Micah McCormick: So just a few moments, we're going to partake of the Lord's Supper.
Micah McCormick: Let this be a time of worship that stirs your heart towards then engaging with one another and the world around us.
Micah McCormick: Let's pray.
Micah McCormick: Lord, how we thank you today that we have good news to share.
Micah McCormick: We have joy in our souls, and we pray desperately for anyone today who is one of your children who doesn't have that light of joy as they would desire right now in their souls.
Micah McCormick: Lord, give them a sense of the risen Lord to renew their hearts, to make them whole.
Micah McCormick: For those that maybe are today in a land of real darkness, having maybe thought about the resurrection, perhaps even acknowledging it, but not knowing the Lord of glory, not grabbing hold of him and worshiping him, that they would want that, that they would be be coming to you in their hearts today.
Micah McCormick: Thank you, Father, that you reveal yourself to us how gracious you are, that you would lovingly greet us and scatter darkness and gloom, lovingly to meet us, and we know that you are indeed raised, Lord Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: You've given us something remarkably even more powerful than only your bodily presence.
Micah McCormick: You've given us the Spirit of Christ who reveals you to us, and in turn, through him, we know the Father.
Micah McCormick: So we pray, O Spirit of God, that you would carry the presence of our risen Lord with us throughout this day and this week until we come again next Resurrection Lord's Day, next Sunday, to celebrate our Savior yet again.
Micah McCormick: We ask these things in Jesus' name.
Micah McCormick: Amen.