← Back to sermon library

you you you you you you you you welcome to everyone it's good to be back in the house of our god you can turn with me in your bibles to psalm 121 for our call to worship psalm one two one i'll begin reading in verse one a song of ascents i will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help my help comes from the lord who made heaven and earth he will not allow your foot to be moved he who keeps you will not slumber behold he who keeps israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the lord is your keeper the lord is your shade at your right hand the sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night the lord shall preserve you from all evil he shall preserve your soul the lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even forevermore [Music] r [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] endlessly [Music] let us pray our god most high we gather together again on the sabbath evening and we come before you father and we come through the lord jesus christ and the power of the holy spirit we confess that you are god almighty and we pray tonight that you would be worshiped and enthroned upon the praises of your people here that as we sing as we pray as we consider the holy scriptures and as we take the bread and the and the wine tonight may we do all for the glory of god almighty may you encourage and strengthen each of our hearts may you build us up in our most holy faith and may we live always to bring glory and honor unto you our god we acknowledge your goodness and your mercy and your kindness so evidently displayed in the created order certainly all the things that you make all of the blessed provision that you give to us bespeaks your kindness and your mercy as well god we find great comfort in the fact and in the midst of chaos in this lower world we know that you are enthroned on high that you govern all your creatures and all their actions as the psalmist said our god is in heaven he does whatever he pleases as our brother reminded us this morning from daniel chapter 4 there is none who can stay your hand or ask what doest thou as well god we ponder redemption salvation by grace through faith in our lord jesus christ and we stand amazed we know lord god that we are we're dead in our trespasses and sins only fit for judgment and punishment and everlasting fire and yet god in your mercy you have saved us in your grace you have redeemed us you showed us our sin you showed us our transgression and our lack of conformity unto that law and you have shown us the savior and all of his beauty we thank you for his offices as prophet priest and king we thank you that he is the mediator of the new covenant and that he came to live and to die and to rise again and he did so for us men and for our salvation may you be glorified tonight as we remember these truths and as we participate in the supper may we in a special way remember our lord's death on our behalf we know that this wasn't simply an example we know that it wasn't simply a a story or fable or a myth but we know it was blood atonement it was sacrifice and substitution it was the righteous standing in the place of the unrighteous and receiving in his own person the very wrath and fury of god almighty may these things lord god draw out our hearts in worship and in praise and adoration and may you see and may we seek by grace not just on the lord's day to serve you but each and every day do forgive us now for our sin and our transgression against a holy god we thank you for the various promises and holy scripture that assure us of your forgiveness and god these aren't given so that we'll go out in sin but rather they are given so that when we do sin we are mindful that we have an advocate with the father even jesus christ the righteous so father may this be a wonderful thought in our own hearts and minds and may this be a great encouragement to each of us and may we indeed go forward in the fear of the lord and in the comfort of the holy spirit seeking in all things to bring glory to you for those god who've come in here tonight that are still dead in their trespasses and sins we don't appeal to their free will we don't appeal to their good works we appeal to the god of absolute sovereignty that god who the psalmist said is able to make men willing in the day of his power the lord jesus christ said that no man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and god we find great encouragement in that because we know no sinner will go looking for you but you have shown us in multiple places throughout the bible that you go seeking after sinners and saving them we pray for our children and for our young people we are so thankful to you god for this rich gift we ask that you would help us to be faithful as grandparents as parents give us wisdom and grace to bring them up in the training and admonition of the lord we know that this is a sin cursed world and we know there are many things vying for their attention and yet father we know that your grace is sufficient to keep them and we pray that you would do so father we pray for the temporal needs in our congregation may you bless those who have ongoing physical trials and challenges we ask god that you would bless our brother jonathan that you would continue to give him improvement each and every day that he would recover from this recent infection that he would recover ultimately from this cancer and that he would be able to live a long and healthy life and father just watch over him and his family and give them grace and give them that that understanding that you are over even all these things god bless our fellow churches we thank you for those in our community we thank you for those that we have fellowship with in terms of our common confession of faith and we pray that you would just continue to bless and and prosper each of these local bodies and may it be the case lord god almighty that more and more people in this country would be awakened by the power of the gospel that the holy spirit would be at work not only reviving the church but awakening those who are dead in their trespasses and sins we see that this is in fact a troublesome sometime we know that there are great challenges facing us in this body politic and we know that persons are beginning to think about the bigger issues in life so god may they find at churches and may they find the gospel preached and may they by grace come to the lord jesus christ for salvation and for all things necessary for eternal life as well god bless the persecuted church we know and are convinced that there is great suffering and oppression that are that is inflicted upon our our brothers and sisters throughout this earth and yet father we are encouraged that in the midst of these things the church is being built we see each and every day the promise of matthew 16 coming to pass where jesus said i will build my church and the gates of haiti shall not prevail against it we know that if it were possible for those gates to prevail it would have happened but our blessed christ the sovereign our blessed christ is the one who undertakes the building program and in this we have great confidence and we pray that the gospel would continue to go forth that it would run swiftly and be glorified throughout this earth and god be merciful to our our civil government be merciful to those in high places put the fear of the lord in their hearts we pray that there would be those in their lives that would preach the gospel to them we find it blessed and amazing to know that in the first century john the baptist had an audience with herod and john the baptist rebuked him for his sin of adultery and all the other evil things that he did and god we pray that there would be that sort of a testimony to civil authority in our day and that father you would humble them she would break their hearts under the preached gospel and that you would save them and if not save them god we pray that you would restrain them solomon tells us and encourages us that your the heart of the king is in the hand of god and you turn it like you do the rivers of water and if not restraint then father please remove those who are a curse upon society those who are uh a great hindrance to the to the to the good life that the apostle paul tells us to pray for in first timothy chapter two not good in the sense of material blessing but good in the sense that we're left alone to worship our blessed god and to do what we are called to do in terms of propagating the gospel of our lord jesus christ and we pray in his most blessed name amen we'll turn with me again to psalm 67 a psalm 67 a as an alpha and we'll stand together as we sing [Music] mercy [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] us [Music] this well you could turn with me in your bibles to matthew 28 matthew 28 for the last while we've been considering the passion narrative in matthew's gospel with reference to our lord's day or our lord's supper services so we're going to look at chapter 28 verses 11 to 15 tonight but i want to begin reading in chapter 27 at verse 62. so beginning in matthew 27 at verse 62 on the next day which followed the day of preparation the chief priests and pharisees gathered together to pilot saying sir we remember while he was still alive how that deceiver said after three days i will rise therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people he has risen from the dead so the last deception will be worse than the first pilate said to them you have a guard go your way make it as secure as you know how so they went and made the tomb secure sealing the stone and setting the guard now after the sabbath as the first day of the week began to dawn mary magdalene and the other mary came to see the tomb and behold there was a great earthquake for an angel of the lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it his countenance was like lightning in his clothing as white as snow and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men but the angel answered and said to the women do not be afraid for i know that you seek jesus who was crucified he is not here for he has risen as he said come see the place where the lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into galilee there you will see him behold i have told you so they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold jesus met them saying rejoice so they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him then jesus said to them do not be afraid go and tell my brethren to go to galilee and there they will see me now while they were going behold some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers saying tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept and if this comes to the governor's ears we will appease him and make you secure so they took the money and did as they were instructed and this saying is commonly reported among the jews until this day then the 11 disciples went away into galilee to the mountain which jesus had appointed for them when they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted and jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all things that i have commanded you and lo i am with you always even to the end of the age amen let us pray our father we thank you for the written word we thank you for this time that we can gather together and contemplate in a special way our lord's death on our behalf as we've seen that in this narrative in matthew's gospel we now come to the resurrection we come to the lie that was told concerning the resurrection and we pray god in heaven that you would just guide us now by your spirit cause us to reflect upon these truths and cause us to find great joy and encouragement and comfort in our blessed savior again forgive us for all of our sin and its darkening influence in our minds and hearts and bless our time together we pray in jesus name amen well here in chapter 28 obviously last time we saw the resurrection of our lord jesus christ and then the the chapter ends with what we call the great commission our blessed savior gives this mandate to his church to go there for and to make disciples of all the nations but prior to that and it's only in matthew's gospel and i'll explain why in just a moment we have this sort of counter great commission we have an anti-christian great commission we have a deception and a lie that was given in order to propagate this to the jews such that they would not believe that jesus was in fact risen from the dead so the counter mission to the great commission is found in chapter 28 verses 11 to 15. after the resurrection the religious leaders go into damage control they go into damage control mode and they have to cook up a particular answer or response as to why the tomb is empty matthew closes his gospel with these two sections concerning the propagation of a message in the one jesus gives instruction and gives as a promise his abiding presence with his church even to the end of the age in the other we see that they are given a lie or told to give a lie to propagate it and so that they could confound or distort or try and ruin the christian message so tonight we'll look first at the explanation of the soldiers in verse 11 and then secondly the creation of the false narrative in verses 12 to 15. but larger than that we ought to understand that the devil always rages against the truth and the devil does so through human means in this instance he takes the religious leadership in this instance he takes the soldiers who are easily paid off and in this instance he tries to cover the truth of the resurrection with this lie that the disciples came and stole the body this sort of thing continues unabated in our own day wherever the true gospel is preached you will nevertheless find in professing churches heretics you will find those that distort the message you will find those that add say for instance works to faith in the matter of justification the apostle paul in galatians 1 condemns such and pronounces anathema upon them and he says that there are those who actually want to distort the truth there are those that actually want to lead you away from the truth as it is in jesus so christ most high rules and reigns at the right hand of the father first peter 5 tells us that the devil roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and if we ask the question how does the devil engage in his wickedness it is through lies and murder remember jesus in john chapter 8 in his confrontation with the religious leaders he tells the leaders there you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do he says that he was a murderer and a liar from the beginning so it shouldn't surprise us that lies and deception and fraud are often propagated in the name of religion to try and cover the truth as it is in the lord jesus christ so let's look at the explanation of the soldiers in verse 11. notice that in verse 11 a the women obey the instructions that they were given go back for just a moment to 28 9 and as they went to tell his disciples these are the women the women who were present at the crucifixion the women who were present at the res at the burial and then again at the resurrection so as they went to tell his disciples behold jesus met them saying rejoice remember a very sort of uh ordinary way for someone who had just been raised from the dead to sort of greet somebody it was akin to our hello imagine that you see somebody that had just been raised from the dead somebody that you knew and loved very affectionately you knew him over the course of three years now he's raised from the debt and all he says to you is hello probably that would leave you wondering well is there a lot more you want to tell us but that's what jesus says so they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him a great illustration of what in theology is called the hypostatic union the hypostatic union teaches that there's one christ one person two natures divinity and humanity the fact that they hold him by the feet underscores his humanity the fact that they worship him underscores his divinity yet one christ one person to nature so that is the worship afforded to him and notice he doesn't rebuff them notice he doesn't rebuke that notice he doesn't say oh why would you do that in other instances in the bible when an angel for instance is worshipped in the book of revelation he says don't do that i am a servant alongside of you but when they worship jesus jesus receives it and then jesus gives them instruction in verse 10. jesus said to them do not be afraid go and tell my brethren to go to galilee and there they will see me the sort of pinnacle of covenant blessing is the sight of our our lord jesus christ and that union and communion that we have with him so they respond favorably they obey and verse 11 8 tells us now while they were going and then then it moved secondly into the soldiers report the soldiers report to the chief priests according to 11b now these women were probably ecstatic they were greatly joyful in fact look back at verse 8. so they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy two concepts that are consistent in the christian's heart you can fear god and have joy and thanksgiving and gratitude mingled with that fear so they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word after they saw christ after they worshiped christ i doubt that that mitigated their fear or their joy in other words it probably increased it we have seen him risen from the dead that would certainly instill a degree of trembling in the heart of any sane or rational human but as well we have seen him raised from the dead it would increase the joy it would increase the gladness it would increase the happiness that our savior who died has now been raised again from the dead so they are going but the soldiers are probably slinking along the soldiers failed at their job the soldiers were derelict in their duty as far as we know at this point not reading ahead and understanding that there's going to be this con conspiracy to commit fraud but right now they have lost their charge they had only one job and that one job was to protect a grave and in that grave was a dead man that's a job that just about any sentient human being could accomplish you don't need great skill sets you don't need great wisdom you don't need to have been accomplished in the workforce outside of that all you have to do is be there and breathe and yet they failed they failed miserably because the tomb is now empty so i doubt that they were filled with great joy they might have had great fear but not great joy so the soldiers slink along france says the opening clause invites the reader to compare two groups hurrying away from the tomb with a message to deliver the women are going to go tell the the the disciples to meet him in galilee and the soldiers have to go and say guess what the one simple job that we had as given to us we failed to do it so the soldiers report to the chief priests as they had been placed at their disposal by pilate go back to chapter 27 chapter 27 the chief priests are the elders the pharisees they come together to pilot they say sir verse 63 we remember while he was still alive how that deceiver said amazing they didn't burst into flames these men were frauds they were deceits they were liars and they followed their father the devil and they have the gall to say of jesus christ that he is a deceiver but notice after three days i will rise therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people he has risen from the dead so the last deception will be worse than the first so pilate said to them you have a guard go your way make it as secure as you know how. so they went and made the tomb secure sealing the stone and setting the guard so pilate made these soldiers responsible ultimately to these religious leaders so now these soldiers have to go and report to these religious leaders what has occurred that the tomb is in fact empty now notice that the soldiers report all thing all the things that had happened now that includes the earthquake chapter 28 verse 2a it's a pretty significant event it would include the descent and presence of the angel chapter 28 verse 2b again a very significant event that would include the rolled back stone according to 28 2 c and ultimately the empty tomb now you'd like to think that if soldiers had that kind of a story you'd be a bit more interested in it than simply trying to silence it simply trying to neutralize it this reflects the enmity this reflects the antithesis this reflects the abject hatred of these religious leaders of these jewish leaders against our lord jesus christ they had plotted to kill him in matthew 12. they put that plan into practice in matthew 26. they actually succeed in this event and now he's risen from the dead and the soldiers come back with this amazing story filled with supernatural phenomena and their only desire is to silence it their only desire is to stop their mouths davies and allison make the comment told all that had happened underlines the willful unbelief of the jewish leaders for surely they should ponder the guard story of a supernatural visitation wouldn't you think well again you see they are presuppositionally committed against our lord and against his resurrection now notice secondly in terms of the false narrative in verses 12 to 15. the background we've read it in verses 62 to 66 in chapter 27. so the two accounts here 28 11 to 15 and what we see in 27 62 to 66 are only found in matthew's gospel now when we say that or i say that that doesn't mean it's therefore untrue there are particular details concerning the life and ministry of our lord jesus that you may only find in one of the individual gospel narratives well this account in terms of the concoction by the jews with reference to pilate and the guards and this narrative are in matthew's gospel the reason for that is because matthew's original audience was originally jewish now we certainly use the gospel narrative we use matthew obviously we use mark and luke and john but they each had a specific context or a specific target audience matthew wrote to jews luke writes to gentiles mark writes to romans and john writes for everybody mainly the church not that the others again don't write for everybody but there's a specific context and then if you notice that this particular lie gained traction among the jews look at verse 15 in chapter 28. so they took the money and did as they were instructed and this saying is commonly reported among the jews until this day it had traction to at least the middle of the second century there was a particular father who had a uh writing it was uh justin martyr in his dialogue with trifo and he lived in ad110 to 8165. so at least up until the middle of the second century this lie was still being purported now it has survived into the 21st century under what has been called the swoon theory muslim theology not all but some teaches the swoon theory all deny the death and resurrection of the savior but some propagate the swoon theory the swoon theory means that jesus was mostly dead he wasn't all all the way dead he was just mostly dead and so they put a mostly dead savior into the grave and there he healed and there he came back to full strength and there or from there he left that tomb and then it was popular popularly reported that he had risen from the dead that has been popularized by james cameron a hollywood producer he made a so-called documentary that propagated this lie this fraud and this deception but in terms of matthew's inclusion it was first and foremost directed to the jews as well notice the irony of the situation look at verse 12. it says when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers saying tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept now if you go back to chapter 27 at verse 64 this is the thing they allegedly feared this was the thing they allegedly feared that the disciples would come and steal his body well when he's raised from the dead they then invoke what they fear as the deception or as the lie in order to cover up the truth notice in 27 64 therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day less his disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people he has risen from the dead so the last deception will be worse than the first wait a minute fellas that is precisely what you were afraid of now you're going to actually bribe these guards to propagate this oh yeah that's far more appealing to us than admitting the truth that he is resent you see the great lengths that the wicked go to to try to cover up the truth as it is in jesus it would be beautiful and blessed and wonderful and awesome if the church of jesus christ took the same pains to propagate the truth that the liars take in order to try and cover the truth the church of jesus christ needs to get serious in terms of going on the offense we're always apologizing we're always feeble and weak in the eyes of the world i'm not suggesting that we engage in machismo or we get guns and we you know slay everybody but brethren we need to adopt the mindset of the apostle paul in acts 25. you can turn there for just a moment a mindset that is desperately needed in our own generation i mentioned john the baptist this morning as a model minister that we ought to pray for our men to be like we mentioned or we saw in second timothy chapter one the apostle paul tells timothy don't be ashamed of me or of the testimony of our lord but rather be prepared to suffer be prepared to suffer pain be prepared to suffer a persecution or oppression be prepared to suffer imprisonment be prepared to suffer martyrdom what happened to that ethos what happened to that mindset what happened to that reality when the people of god would march willingly to the stake in order to burn for our lord jesus christ the moment a bit a hint a tiny width of oppression comes our way and 90 of the churches in canada shut their doors with reference to public worship look at acts 25 i'm sorry 26 at verse 24. paul is before festus and he says now i mean he's before agrippa but festus is present it says now as he thus made his defense festus said with a loud voice paul you are beside yourself much learning is driving you mad do you know how we respond today we respond like well i'm sorry i don't mean to offend we'll never say such things again what did god most high that men say what paul said but he said i am not mad most noble festus but speak the words of truth and reason the godless the antichrist the wicked the wretched they take great pains to uh to to cover up the truth as it is in jesus if the church took as great of pains to propagate that message i suspect we'd be in a whole better place back to matthew chapter 28 when we look at this background when we look at what's happening here the situation shows the emptiness of the words of the religious leaders in the passion narrative look at chapter 27 specifically at verse 42 27 well 41. likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and elders said he saved others himself he cannot save if he is the king of israel let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him no you won't because he came down from the cross he went into the tomb and he was raised again the third day you're not believing on him are you you were liars then you're liars now and you're going to cover this up by fraudulent deception it does illustrate the accuracy of christ's words in luke chapter 16. remember that story of the rich man in lazarus and the rich man says uh uh then lord send a a send a prophet to my father to my brothers so that they may hear the truth and they may believe jesus says if they do not hear moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded the one rise from the dead so back to matthew 28 specifically at verse 12 notice they meet together verse 12 a when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together whenever we read that in the gospel narratives with reference to the opponents of jesus christ it should be reminiscent of psalm 2. psalm 2 2 tells us and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his christ turn back to 26 chapter 26 at verses 3 and 4. notice then the chief priests the scribes and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest who was called caiaphas and plotted to take jesus by trickery and kill him but they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar among the people turn over to verse 59 verse 59 now the chief priests the elders and all the councils sought false testimony against jesus to put him to death chapter 27 verse 1 when morning came all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against jesus to put him to death and then 27 62 same sort of an emphasis on the next day which followed the day of preparation the chief priests and pharisees gathered together to pilot what can we conclude anytime these these guys get together bad things happen not much has changed in terms of politics not much has changed in terms of bad or false religion now notice the plot of the leaders in verses 12 b to 14. first of all they consider a bribe we'll just pay off the soldiers i mean come on money talks right and we see that it does avail with these soldiers these soldiers understand that maxim money talks notice the the payoff is reminiscent of the religious leaders paying judas to betray christ go back to 26 14-16 14 then one of the twelve called judas iscariot went to the chief priests and said what are you willing to give me if i deliver him to you and they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver so from or so from that time he sought opportunity to betray him same sort of an emphasis they'll just pay one wants to know where did they get that money where did they get that money did they take it out of their own accounts probably not they probably took it out of the coffers in the temple they probably took it from the people they were serving see there is nothing new under the sun brethren often times not all the time but oftentimes persons and places of authority take money from us to ruin us it's an unfortunate reality but such is the case so that's what's happening here one commentator says whereas judas had been sought or had been bought to make use of what he knew these guards are to be bought off to suppress what they knew spurgeon said for money christ was betrayed and for money the truth about his resurrection was kept back as far as it could be so it was money that that's in terms of the human means that these men use to facilitate the execution of an innocent man remember that holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners in the language of the apostle in hebrews chapter 7. in the language of pontius pilate the pagan the heathen the godless man that examined him confesses three times i find no guilt in this man i find no guilt in this man i find no guilt in this man so why are you going to go along with the jews and execute him by crucifixion there is corruption in our world brethren and if we don't see it today we should at least be able to see it back then and at least entertain the possibility that it may make a re-emergence in our own day the payoff demonstrated their hatred for christ the payoff demonstrated their hatred for the truth they used money to try and cover up the truth the payoff as well demonstrated their own love of power see we always think it's just theology it's just a religion it's just our understanding of the bible where in jesus and the religious leaders but it heads remember i said and i've said probably on more occasions than you'd like to remember that the sanhedrin was the highest court in israel at that time it was made up of 71 men there was a leader the the chief among them which was the high priest and then the 70 others it reflects what was done back in the days of the exodus when jethro gave good counsel to moses to delegate his authority so that the judging of israel would not kill moses but with reference to this sanhedrin they not only undertook religious and biblical and theological matters but politics do you think it was just biblical interpretation that animated their hatred for jesus or was it the politics involved they had power over the people when jesus comes and starts preaching truth when jesus comes and starts preaching the way of salvation and the the the the king of the arrival of the kingdom of god that incensed and outraged these men they didn't like the fact that now the crowds were going after jesus they say as much if we don't do something to stop him then all the world will go after him that was a politically motivated opposition to our blessed savior the payoff demonstrated how far they will sink in their depravity matthew henry is helpful here he says let us meaning the christian church never starve a good cause when we see a bad one so liberally supported in other words if these men are going to use their money or their people's money in order to engage in such lawlessness and recklessness and wickedness and if we see in our own generation the sorts of money that is spent say on the propagation of planned parenthood or on the propagation of other moral evils and atrocities when we see that the god-haters are so inclined to spend money to advance their wicked agenda listen to matthew henry let us never starve a good cause if there are good causes brethren let us fund them liberally and joyfully and with a cheerful heart now notice the fraudulent narrative that they construct in verse 13. again it is what it was that they were afraid of this was the thing that they were allegedly afraid would happen so tell uh tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept so in 27 at verse 64 this is the thing they feared rt france says now that something much worse has happened the actual resurrection of christ this is in their mind right it is better to pretend that their plan to thwart jesus disciples had failed than to admit the reality of the resurrection they knew his disciples would now claim as fact so again they're in damage control mode and they have to try and cover this up and just as we read the narrative perhaps we don't ponder it as we ought but this is vicious this is vile and reprehensible with reference to the wickedness in involved they portray the soldiers as derelict in their duty brethren dereliction of duty is never a good thing but in the roman empire it was certainly not a good thing dereliction of duty is typically a capital offense if you're in military service or you're charged with something that affects national security then if you are asleep on the job or if you wander off on the job or you're not diligent on the job you can be executed as well the the idea that they portray the grave robbers or the disciples rather as grave robbers again a potentially capital offense i mean brethren if this gained traction which it did and the fact that the disciples weren't rounded up and executed shows us the good kindness and the providence of god almighty and as well it portrayed jesus as a fraud see it wasn't just g it wasn't just uh uh the testimony of the women that he has risen it was the testimony of moses it was the testimony of the prophets it was the testimony of our lord jesus matthew 16 matthew 17 matthew 20 matthew 26 he tells his disciples that he must go to jerusalem he must be tried he must be executed and he must rise again from the dead so if this is the case what they perpetuate is true it does indict the soldiers it indicts the disciples and it indicts the lord jesus christ but as well it is a grossly implausible explanation a grossly implausible explanation now here's where the apologetics come to play because people challenge the resurrection narrative people have trouble with that even in our own day they may not subscribe to the swoon theory they may not be you know these kinds of reckless lawless wretches that want to deceive and fraud and all that sort of thing there's a lot of people out there that just discount the the resurrection consider with reference to the disciples if this in case in fact was true that the disciples of jesus came along and stole his dead body remember they had abandoned christ according to chapter 26 and verse 56 they fled they left him after the resurrection according to john chapter 20 they were hiding in a house for fear of the jews so is it plausible that they would risk detection by guards roman soldiers men that were not you know foreigners to to doing harm to hurting people to inflicting pain to killing people this was their job what'd you do at work today honey i killed a few guys okay would you like some bread with your soup i mean these were the types of men that you were dealing with so is it plausible that they would risk the detection by guards steal a body now this is after they strip the body take the grave clothes fold them up and lay them down in a neat little pile according to john 20 verses 5 and 6. would they engage in a potentially potentially capital crime falsify the resurrection only to be reproached persecuted and even put to death think about it did the resurrection story the resurrection i don't want to say story story doesn't always mean something false but sometimes it sounds false the resurrection reality did that gain the disciples lots of money and accolades in the empire did everybody say oh those are the fellows that preach the resurrected jesus now those who were saved saw the apostles in a wonderful light those who were saved appreciated the ministry of these men who had seen and testified concerning the life death and resurrection of our lord but those who did not believe held them in contempt they reproached them they persecuted them and they even killed them we saw ii timothy this morning ii timothy 4 paul is sure that he is going to die nero was a madman and nero gave the kill order for the apostle paul what was paul's crime against the empire preaching the gospel the life death and resurrection of our lord jesus christ very implausible at the level of the disciples but consider the soldiers notice in verse 13 tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept so the soldiers were allegedly asleep all of them at the same time they weren't bright enough to take shifts they weren't smart enough to say okay i'm going to get a few you know weeks a bit of shut eye you go ahead and watch guard they didn't learn the lesson of the coneys at least to that level but as well none of them heard the disciples roll away a stone and remove a body i mean they were all of them very good sleepers to be sure and then consider the evidentiary value of a sleeping witness imagine that in court your honor my my witness here he happened to be asleep through the whole event but he knows exactly what happened what do you think your honor is going to say today they're not that bright but back then they might have said how would he have known what happened if he was asleep so the evidentiary value of a sleeping witness is null and void and if they did know that it was the disciples which is what the fraud entails his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept the disciples really you were asleep and yet you intuit that they that it was them well if it were them or was them not always sure how to say that but if it was them then go to their house and investigate look in their garage look in their backyards see if there's a mound of dirt somewhere do your job and investigate this particular scenario it is most implausible what these men concoct in terms of a narrative to cover the truth now notice their promise to the guards in verse 14. verse 14 says and if this comes to the governor's ears this is pontius pilate if this comes to the governor's ears we will appease him and make you secure now the problem would be when pilate found out about this if pilate knew that his guards were that derelict in their duty what do you think pilate would do with those men he would have them executed he would have them killed he would have them quickly dispatched because they were wretched and as well if things happened the way that they said remember this was their original fear of the jews according to 27 64. we don't want it to be the case that these disciples come and steal the body and then the first or the last deception is greater than the first well if this was in fact the case that i mean this is what pilate should have thought if it had ever come to him which is very unlikely but he should have said well why didn't you report them for dereliction of duty so that i could get rid of them because they failed in their particular mission the religious leaders suggest that they will appease pilate and make them secure well a peace pilot is most likely bribe him most likely we'll pay him off too we'll keep him off your back but if you were those soldiers would you be that quick and willing to think that these men would make you secure i certainly wouldn't i don't think these were the brightest bulbs in the chandelier and bless god or bless rather these religious leaders that they found the most foolish men that they could possibly find to carry out this subterfuge now notice finally in terms of the propagation of the narrative in verse 15. there is the compliance of the soldiers it is the grim reality that money talks the guards were willing to admit to a crime dereliction of duty and aid the religious leaders in propagating a myth for a payday and for the promise of security it's a sad event in life isn't it where every man has his price christians ought not to be like that we should never deny our savior we should never deny the brethren we should never speak ill of the things of god most high we should never call into question the word of god we should be prepared to not recant we should be prepared that if they put a gun to our head we maintain fidelity to our sovereign lord even to the bitter end now some say well i don't know if i could do that i would imagine that was the confession of everybody in the history of the church remember that god gives grace for the time you don't have grace to go stand in the fire right now because you don't need to go stand in the fire right now but when they haul you off to the fire you can trust in god most high who gives grace to you so that you will stand in the fire so that you will be thomas hawk to be able to confess that christ is lord of the fire so we need to be willing to maintain fidelity even to the end spurgeon said may none of us ever be affected by considerations of profit and loss in matters of doctrine matters of duty and matters of right and wrong that is a principle the church needs to imbibe that is a principle that the people of god need to imbibe may none of us ever be affected by considerations of profit and loss in matters of doctrine matters of duty and matters of right and wrong the world is filled with people that will vacillate the world is filled with people that capitulate the world is filled with people that will turn on a dime but the people of god with reference to their god and their blessed savior christ need to persevere to the very end god gives grace for such events now notice the propagation of the lie why do you think such a narrative would have gained traction among the jews look at verse 15. so they took the money and did as they were instructed and this saying is commonly reported among the jews until this day it's shameful isn't it it's a deception it's a fraud it's a lie as i mentioned before with justin and his dialogue with trifo it it continued at least until the middle part of the second century so that's in the mid 100s most likely it was able to gain traction in the first place because the scientific impossibility of the resurrection you can hear them now well the science doesn't lead us to believe this the science doesn't ever demonstrate resurrection from the dead that's why there's something called miracle that's why god in his ordinary providence works according to what we call the laws of science but there are those extraordinary workings of god wherein he does miraculous things why because he's god why because things like the resurrection from the dead are necessary for the salvation of our vile guilty selves he was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification romans 4 25. secondly the refusal refusal to believe that god would raise one like jesus from the dead whatever their messianic expectation was and they had it jesus didn't fit the bill as far as they were concerned messiah would come messiah would conquer the roman empire messiah would subjugate the roman empire messiah would be enthroned now on earth and messiah would make sure that all the jews had everything they would ever want they looked for a temporal and earthly kingdom they looked for things that that the prophets were not speaking up the prophets were speaking of the coming of christ to save his people from their sins the prophets were speaking of the christ in his first coming who would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he would come to die he would come to be blunt atonement he would come as the lamb of god to take away the sin of the lord that's not what they were looking for so as far as they were concerned why would god most high raise this jesus from the dead he doesn't meet our expectations he's not what we're looking for well the problem is your expectations and what you're looking for you have to align yourself with the word of god remember this morning in matthew 5 verse 39 jesus indicts the religious leaders of his day you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life but these are they which testify of me so whatever it is you were doing in all that time you were searching the scripture for eternal life you missed it by a million miles you miss the messiah and in the same instance or in the same way most likely they could they probably wondered how would god raise a man like him from the dead and then the willful suppression of the facts for fear of the consequences they had rejected the one god had sent as israel's messiah and then finally and calvin speaks to this the judgment of god why did they do this why did people believe this why do people believe the lie instead of the truth calvin says it was the finishing stroke of the vengeance of god to blind the jews that the resurrection of christ was buried by the perjury of the soldiers and that so gross of falsehood was believed do you mean when you believe bad things do you mean when you believe bad doctrine when you believe error and heresy and falsehood about god and about his christ that could be an indicator that you're under the judgment of god yes it could be an indicator that you're under the judgment of god see when god blesses when god opens eyes when god causes persons to be born again they have no problem with the empty tomb the god who spoke this world into being out of all things out of nothing by the word of his power in the space of six days and all very good that god is most able to raise his son from the dead so when we are born again when we have eyes to see when we put the glasses on everything comes in sharp relief and we have no problem with the miraculous but for those who cannot see for those who are constantly confounded those who are in a stupor in fact paul speaks of this in romans 11 that god gives the jew a spirit of a spirit of a st a stupor in their spirit so that they don't understand the truth as it is in jesus there is a partial hardening of the jews according to romans chapter 11. john gill makes the same observation to which judicial blindness and hardness of heart they were given up as to believe a lie which had no appearance of truth in it now in conclusion just a few thoughts first the wickedness of the religious leaders you'll notice when i preach through gospel narratives i typically go there i don't go there simply to pick on these men but to try and stimulate our own minds that there is nothing new under the sun there's nothing brand new opposition against christ it's not brand new atheism against god there's not brand new you know developed arguments as to why we should repudiate and reject the bible this stuff is been around or has been around solomon wasn't kidding there is nothing new under the sun do you know there were early herita heretical charismatics in the second century you know we think of tongue speaking and the weirdness that goes on into pentecostalism and and charismaticism as a relatively new thing no it's not a relatively new thing there were the montanans that engage in such phenomena the jehovah's witnesses today what is their tantamount doctrine what is their their operating and fundamental principle jesus is not god this isn't brand new this isn't developed with charles tay's russell in the 1800s this goes back to the aryan controversy in the early church when they said or they maintained there was a time when the sun was not you see there is nothing new under the sun not only in terms of heresy and doctrinal defection but in terms of the human psyche men sinned then men sin now and very often it's the same sort of sin i mean we get better at it in terms of being able to do it digitally we get better at it in terms of doing it through email and text and you know whatever but we're still the same sort of sinners in the first place the accusation against the disciples or the accusation of the disciples was a horrific charge a criminal offense a capital offense now remember these guards were allegedly asleep and yet they know that it was the disciples that came and stole the body let's just assume for the moment that this happened let's just assume for the moment that brave robbers actually took the body of jesus which is obviously a false assumption to blame the disciples for that would have meant death for those disciples i mean these are the kinds of people that have no regard for life these are the kinds of people that go for political expediency these are the kinds of people that will do whatever it takes to sort of cover their tracts and make sure that the truth does not get out it is horrifying as well the various plots against jesus to destroy him matthew 12 14 to take him by deception and kill him matthew 26 3-5 to pay judas to betray him matthew 26 14-15 and then pay soldiers to discredit him in matthew 28 11-15 that's a lot of animosity toward the savior that's a lot of hatred for jesus that's a lot of enmity for one who only went about doing good what was jesus crime jesus had no crime again holy harmless and undefiled i find no fault in him the crime was is that he threatened them the crime was is that he would take away their prestige he would take away their power he would make it such that the romans would come in and take away their lives it was all about them selfish narcissistic people that want to kill somebody in order to cover their own tracks and then of course the attempt to destroy the gospel message they seem to inherently know what paul will later write in first corinthians chapter 15. you can turn there they seem to inherently know what paul would later write in first corinthians chapter 15 at verses excuse me 12-19 if we discredit the resurrection if we kill that narrative if we destroy the reality that he rose from the dead then what happens to the gospel it collapses it falls it shows a defeated savior it shows a man who tried he did live a perfect life it shows a man who tried he went to his own death for what he thought were his people but the fact that he didn't rise again everything crumbles in at that point that's why romans 4 25 links justification to resurrection delivered up because of our offenses raised for our justification so notice in chapter 15 at verse 12 now if christ has preached that he has been raised from the dead how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead but if there is no resurrection of the dead then christ has not risen and if christ has not risen then our preaching is empty and your faith isn't also empty yes and we are found false witnesses of god because we have testified of god that he raised up christ whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise for if the dead do not rise then christ is not risen and if christ has not risen your faith is futile you are still in your sins then also those who have fallen asleep and christ have perished if in this life only we have hope in christ we are of all men the most pitiable you take the resurrection out and the whole thing collapses these jews knew that these jews understood that and these jews had to overcome the narrative by their deception and their fraud secondly notice the contrast between the missions you have the great commission in verses 16 to 20 and you have the the the counter great commission in verses 11 to 15. the the religious leaders use bribe money to commission the soldiers to spread lies the religious leaders use bribe money to commission the soldiers to spread lies the risen christ uses the promise of his presence to commission his followers to spread the truth notice in verse 18 all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all things that i have commanded you and lo i am with you always even to the end of the age bribe money to propagate the heresy and the promise of his presence to propagate the truth secondly the religious leader's message gains traction among the jews according to verse 15. the risen christ's message gains traction among all nations go therefore and make disciples of all the nations there's an obvious contrast between the two missions the mission of fraud and the mission of truth and then thirdly the religious leaders died and stood before god in judgment the risen christ is with his church always even to the end of the age calvin says but though this falsehood obtained currency among the jews this did not prevent the truth of the gospel from flying at liberty to the very ends of the earth as it always rises victorious over all the obstacles in the world amen and amen praise god that though there are those who want to engage in fraud and deception and wise there is nevertheless a true church there is nevertheless a continuum there is nevertheless faithful disciples even in our own generation we prayed for several this morning in our 9 30 hour that take the great commission seriously that have gone to the uttermost parts of the earth to proclaim the lordship the kingship and the glory of jesus christ and the reality that all who look to him in faith will have everlasting life let us pray our father in heaven we thank you for your word we thank you for your glory and your majesty and for the excellence and power that you display in the empty tomb we thank you for the risen savior the ascended savior the reigning at the right hand of the father savior and we look forward to his return in glory to judge the living and the dead and may all of us be cleansed in his precious blood and clothed in his precious righteousness and and ready to enter in to that heavenly kingdom on that day father again if any here do not know the lord jesus open their hearts and caused them to receive the truth and believe on him and we ask in jesus name amen well you can turn back to matthew 26 as we move into the sacrament of the lord's supper just a few reminders concerning the lord's supper in the first place it is for believers only if you're not a believer a confessing disciple of our lord jesus we just ask tonight that you do not participate in this it is for the people of god as well it is for the people of god who are seeking to be faithful as the people of god they're not perfect the people of god won't be until they get to heaven but the people of god seek by grace to live in a manner consistent with the word of god paul deals with this in corinth uh in first corinthians chapter 11 when he corrects there their abuse at the table and he basically says that there ought to be examination there ought to be an investigation of one's own heart to make sure there is a worthiness and again the worthiness isn't i've been a good guy this past week i'm going to take this as a reward that's not it at all if you're living in known sin and you are not dealing with it if you are not seeking to maintain a conscience void of offense toward god and men that is what paul is alerting us to the supper is not a reward for good behavior it is a gracious provision of the householder god for his weary pilgrims along the way see we look at this as our service this is actually god's service god owns the house god is the lord god is the king god is the father god gives us bread and wine to cheer us along the way to confirm and strengthen our faith and to help us to navigate in the troubling waters ahead so it is a means of grace calculated to do good for the souls of god's people so the idea isn't wow i've been good i'm gonna take or i've been bad and therefore i need to punish myself no the examination is to make sure that you're living in a manner that is consistent with your confession of faith a third observation is that the elements remain the elements they remain bread and wine we also have juice available in the outer ring for those inclined to not take the wine there is juice in the outer ring but it all remains bread it all remains wine and it all remains juice it doesn't become something other this isn't an unbloody sacrifice of atonement the elements are not transubstantiated they're not consubstantiated but rather in this aspect they serve as emblems as tokens as reminders to cause us to reflect upon the broken body and the shed blood of our lord jesus christ and then of course finally the focus is on christ certainly there is a bit of introspection in terms of examine yourselves and you know look inside for a moment but don't stay inside because that's not a good place to be brethren you look to christ one finger you know well no that's not the illustration when you look to look to yourself once look to christ a lot so the focus in the supper is to be preoccupied with him well i will ask the brothers to come and pass out the bread we'll actually read the section in matthew 26 after we receive the bread and then we'll read it i'll pray and then we'll take the bread together so while they pass that out we'll sing 452. please remain seated as we sing 452. [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] uh [Music] now [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] so in matthew 26 at verse 26 we read and as they were eating jesus took bread blessed and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body well let us pray our gracious god and father we thank you that you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life we thank you and we praise you for this kind provision as the prophet said he is a son given to us and in accordance with the promise in genesis 3 15 and all throughout the prophets and we see that fulfillment in the coming of the lord jesus christ we thank you for that broken body on behalf of sinners we thank you for that substitutionary death and the fact that he took the penalty due for us in himself and we know god that this was for your glory and it was for our everlasting blessedness so we give praise to you now and we eat and great thanksgiving and we pray in jesus name amen we'll take together again please remain seated we'll sing number 340 just another reminder the juice is in the outer ring so three four zero [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] yes [Music] oh [Music] huh [Music] ah [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] in verse 27 we read then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins but i say to you i will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom and when they had sung a hymn they went out to the mount of olives well let us pray our blessed god we know that without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin that all of the sacrifices in the old testament pointed forward to the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world in fact our blessed savior here inaugurates that new covenant spoken of by the prophet jeremiah in his own blood and we rejoice in that not because we have some sick fascination or or twisted desire to see this sort of a thing but because we know that in this is the greatest expression of love ever and we know that it's through this atonement that we have everlasting life so we rejoice in the power of our of our savior's blood to cleanse us from all sin and all unrighteousness and as we drink this cup now may we do so in remembrance of him and may we proclaim the lord's death until he comes and we pray in jesus name amen we'll take together well you can turn to three five two three five two will stand as we sing together me [Music] [Music] she is [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] now may the god of peace who brought up our lord jesus from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through jesus christ to whom be glory for ever and ever amen god we praise you for a blessed lord's day we praise you for the house of god and the public worship of god we thank you as well for your your wonderful people and we pray that our hearts would be encouraged that you would strengthen us with might in the inner man she would conform us further unto the the image of your beloved son and fill us with your spirit so that we may go forth into this world to shine as lights in this crooked and perverse generation and give us boldness to hold forth your word of truth and we praise you through jesus christ our lord amen we'll please be seated for a brief time of meditation you