“DARK FRIDAY TO BRIGHT SUNDAY”
TEXT: Matthew 28:1-20
THESIS: To show how fear, doubt & disbelief turned into joy, faith & hope on Easter.
INTRO.:
A. ✔The day our Savior was crucified was marked by darkness & death. ✔God shrouded the earth w/midnight at noonday, as if to hide from the eyes of sinful men the drama of redemption taking place in their behalf. (27:45) ✔The earth trembled under the load of sin placed on our Lord. (27:51,52) ✔Miraculous & magnificent events which can only be explained supernaturally took place on that day. ✔But something even more marvelous & definitely more miraculous took place on Easter Sunday, when Jesus came forth from the tomb. And I am not just referring to His resurrection alone, but also what took place in the lives of His followers.
B. Beginning on the sunrise (“as it began to dawn”) on the Lord’s day, events would occur which would change people forever then & continue to change people today. Our Savior would be no Savior if things ended on “dark Friday” – the reality is things remained dark in the lives of His disciples for “3 days & 3 nights” until the dawn on that first “bright Sunday.”
TRANS.: The climactic events leading to Jesus’ death converged because of several factors:
1️⃣His triumphal entry into Jerusalem w/the Jews proclaiming Him their King, implying the restoration of David’s throne (the end of Roman rule), &
2️⃣His cleansing of the Temple (thereby challenging the authority of the priests who permitted & encouraged the selling of sacrificial animals & profiteering w/in the sacred Temple area). Jesus was a threat both to Roman rule & Jewish religion.
3️⃣Their “final answer”? To crucify Him. But God’s “final answer” was to raise Him!
4️⃣The darkness of the cross was replaced with the brightness of the resurrection. We can only imagine the extreme emotions of the disciples which ranged from the darkness of despair & discouragement to brightness of amazement & awe.
I. FEAR & GREAT JOY: v.8
A. Fear: : “He is not here...” 6
ILLUS.:
🔹What if indeed someone stole the body? What if His body had been moved so the disciples would despair? What if death & burial was indeed the end of the story. There would be no “good news” or Gospel there!
🔹In the book Who Moved The Stone, Frank Morison set out disproving the resurrection. Instead he disposes of the dozens of theories invented to account for the removal of the body from the tomb: ✔the gardener took away Christ’s body so His followers would not trample his flowers, ✔Joseph of Arimathea did it because he regretted giving his grave to a criminal, ✔Jesus recovered from a death-like faint & pushed the stone away Himself.....& on & on ad nauseum!
🔹In the 18th century, the U.S. Congress issued a special edition of Thomas Jefferson’s Bible – one with every reference to the supernatural deleted. Jefferson had confined his beliefs to the moral teachings of Jesus.
⭐The closing words of this Bible were: “There laid they Jesus & rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulcher & departed.”
⭐This was Mary’s fear when she came to the sepulchre that morning. ⭐Jesus said to her: “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou has laid Him, & I will take Him away.”
1. But now an angel has appeared to give them the news that the Savior’s
body is gone – gone where?!
2. Now their fear is not about where the body is, they are told “He is risen,” they are not accustomed to having “close encounters of the 4th kind” with angels whose “countenance was like lightning, & his raiment white as snow.” v.3
3. Perhaps they are also fearful that the message of the angel is not true or that they are hallucinating.
B. Great Joy: “He is risen from the dead...” v.7
1. The angel’s message was full of good news; he did not stop w/the word that the Savior’s body was no longer in the tomb, but that He had risen & that they would soon see Him in
Galilee. v.7
2. Praise the Lord there is not just an empty tomb, but also a living Savior!
ILLUS.: Many great men have died & have been buried. The pyramids of Egypt are famous because they contain the mummified bodies of Egyptian Kings. Westminster Abbey in London is renowned because in it rest the bodies of English nobles & notables. Mohammed’s tomb is noted for the stone coffin & bones it contains. Arlington Cemetery in Wash., D.C. is revered, for it is the honored resting place of many outstanding Americans. Jesus tomb draws millions of visitors not because of what it contains, but because it is empty!!!!
3. Their fears were being replaced by “great joy.”
4. To the bereaved disciples there could have been no great new than that the Savior was alive again! (And so it is with His followers worldwide today!)
HYMN: “Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Sons of men & angels say, Alleluia! Raise your joys & triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing ye heavens & earth reply, Alleluia!”
II. DOUBT & GREAT FAITH: v.17
A. Doubt: “Some doubted...”
1. Those about whom the words above are written are none other than the 11 remaining Apostles! Cf. v.10
2. This is not a negative indictment against them (as we will see), but rather a natural reaction to a supernatural event!
ILLUS.: It is true that they had seen at least 3 people resurrected in Jesus’ earthly ministry, but they had witnessed His horrible, bloody death on Calvary on that dark day just a brief period ago & they were in a state of horrified shock. No wonder “some doubted!” Was it Peter? John? Bartholomew? James? Philip? Thomas?
B. Great Faith: “They worshipped Him...”
1. Their faith had lapsed on that “dark Friday” when His lips went silent, He bowed His head, quit breathing & His body went limp.
2. They were even more dismayed when they took His lifeless body down from the Cross, anointed it & placed it into the tomb.
3. They had brooded & mourned His death in fear & trembling for 3 days & Nights.
4. Peter had denied Him, they all fled from Him; they were humiliated, dismayed & discouraged & had given up hope that Jesus was indeed the Messiah!
5. But now they WORSHIP HIM! Worship Him? Only God deserves worship!
6. It was the resurrection that made the difference!!!
ILLUS.: During the French Revolution, someone said to Talleyrand, bishop of Autun: “The Christian religion – what is it? It would be easy to start a religion like that.” “Oh, yes,” Talleyrand replied. One would only have to get crucified and rise again the 3rd day!”
HYMN: “Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! Where O death is now they sting? Alleluia! Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia! Where’s they victory boasting grave? Alleluia!
III. DISBELIEF & GREAT HOPE:
A. Disbelief: The unsaved
1. Many believe intellectually of course, but have never invited the resurrected Savior into their lives.
2. Disbelief is not simply intellectual, it is spiritual, it is profound.
B. Great Hope: The believers
ILLUS.: When Jesus rose from the dead, the sheaf of first fruits of the barley harvest was being waved by the High Priest
in the Temple. It was the specimen, pattern & pledge of all the rest. Christ’s resurrection is that & more for the believer.
Without Christ the “firstfruits” of our resurrection there is no hope!
CONCL.: Are YOU living in “DARK FRIDAY” or “BRIGHT SUNDAY?”
HYMN: Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia! Amen!
THESIS: To show how fear, doubt & disbelief turned into joy, faith & hope on Easter.
INTRO.:
A. ✔The day our Savior was crucified was marked by darkness & death. ✔God shrouded the earth w/midnight at noonday, as if to hide from the eyes of sinful men the drama of redemption taking place in their behalf. (27:45) ✔The earth trembled under the load of sin placed on our Lord. (27:51,52) ✔Miraculous & magnificent events which can only be explained supernaturally took place on that day. ✔But something even more marvelous & definitely more miraculous took place on Easter Sunday, when Jesus came forth from the tomb. And I am not just referring to His resurrection alone, but also what took place in the lives of His followers.
B. Beginning on the sunrise (“as it began to dawn”) on the Lord’s day, events would occur which would change people forever then & continue to change people today. Our Savior would be no Savior if things ended on “dark Friday” – the reality is things remained dark in the lives of His disciples for “3 days & 3 nights” until the dawn on that first “bright Sunday.”
TRANS.: The climactic events leading to Jesus’ death converged because of several factors:
1️⃣His triumphal entry into Jerusalem w/the Jews proclaiming Him their King, implying the restoration of David’s throne (the end of Roman rule), &
2️⃣His cleansing of the Temple (thereby challenging the authority of the priests who permitted & encouraged the selling of sacrificial animals & profiteering w/in the sacred Temple area). Jesus was a threat both to Roman rule & Jewish religion.
3️⃣Their “final answer”? To crucify Him. But God’s “final answer” was to raise Him!
4️⃣The darkness of the cross was replaced with the brightness of the resurrection. We can only imagine the extreme emotions of the disciples which ranged from the darkness of despair & discouragement to brightness of amazement & awe.
I. FEAR & GREAT JOY: v.8
A. Fear: : “He is not here...” 6
ILLUS.:
🔹What if indeed someone stole the body? What if His body had been moved so the disciples would despair? What if death & burial was indeed the end of the story. There would be no “good news” or Gospel there!
🔹In the book Who Moved The Stone, Frank Morison set out disproving the resurrection. Instead he disposes of the dozens of theories invented to account for the removal of the body from the tomb: ✔the gardener took away Christ’s body so His followers would not trample his flowers, ✔Joseph of Arimathea did it because he regretted giving his grave to a criminal, ✔Jesus recovered from a death-like faint & pushed the stone away Himself.....& on & on ad nauseum!
🔹In the 18th century, the U.S. Congress issued a special edition of Thomas Jefferson’s Bible – one with every reference to the supernatural deleted. Jefferson had confined his beliefs to the moral teachings of Jesus.
⭐The closing words of this Bible were: “There laid they Jesus & rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulcher & departed.”
⭐This was Mary’s fear when she came to the sepulchre that morning. ⭐Jesus said to her: “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou has laid Him, & I will take Him away.”
1. But now an angel has appeared to give them the news that the Savior’s
body is gone – gone where?!
2. Now their fear is not about where the body is, they are told “He is risen,” they are not accustomed to having “close encounters of the 4th kind” with angels whose “countenance was like lightning, & his raiment white as snow.” v.3
3. Perhaps they are also fearful that the message of the angel is not true or that they are hallucinating.
B. Great Joy: “He is risen from the dead...” v.7
1. The angel’s message was full of good news; he did not stop w/the word that the Savior’s body was no longer in the tomb, but that He had risen & that they would soon see Him in
Galilee. v.7
2. Praise the Lord there is not just an empty tomb, but also a living Savior!
ILLUS.: Many great men have died & have been buried. The pyramids of Egypt are famous because they contain the mummified bodies of Egyptian Kings. Westminster Abbey in London is renowned because in it rest the bodies of English nobles & notables. Mohammed’s tomb is noted for the stone coffin & bones it contains. Arlington Cemetery in Wash., D.C. is revered, for it is the honored resting place of many outstanding Americans. Jesus tomb draws millions of visitors not because of what it contains, but because it is empty!!!!
3. Their fears were being replaced by “great joy.”
4. To the bereaved disciples there could have been no great new than that the Savior was alive again! (And so it is with His followers worldwide today!)
HYMN: “Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Sons of men & angels say, Alleluia! Raise your joys & triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing ye heavens & earth reply, Alleluia!”
II. DOUBT & GREAT FAITH: v.17
A. Doubt: “Some doubted...”
1. Those about whom the words above are written are none other than the 11 remaining Apostles! Cf. v.10
2. This is not a negative indictment against them (as we will see), but rather a natural reaction to a supernatural event!
ILLUS.: It is true that they had seen at least 3 people resurrected in Jesus’ earthly ministry, but they had witnessed His horrible, bloody death on Calvary on that dark day just a brief period ago & they were in a state of horrified shock. No wonder “some doubted!” Was it Peter? John? Bartholomew? James? Philip? Thomas?
B. Great Faith: “They worshipped Him...”
1. Their faith had lapsed on that “dark Friday” when His lips went silent, He bowed His head, quit breathing & His body went limp.
2. They were even more dismayed when they took His lifeless body down from the Cross, anointed it & placed it into the tomb.
3. They had brooded & mourned His death in fear & trembling for 3 days & Nights.
4. Peter had denied Him, they all fled from Him; they were humiliated, dismayed & discouraged & had given up hope that Jesus was indeed the Messiah!
5. But now they WORSHIP HIM! Worship Him? Only God deserves worship!
6. It was the resurrection that made the difference!!!
ILLUS.: During the French Revolution, someone said to Talleyrand, bishop of Autun: “The Christian religion – what is it? It would be easy to start a religion like that.” “Oh, yes,” Talleyrand replied. One would only have to get crucified and rise again the 3rd day!”
HYMN: “Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! Where O death is now they sting? Alleluia! Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia! Where’s they victory boasting grave? Alleluia!
III. DISBELIEF & GREAT HOPE:
A. Disbelief: The unsaved
1. Many believe intellectually of course, but have never invited the resurrected Savior into their lives.
2. Disbelief is not simply intellectual, it is spiritual, it is profound.
B. Great Hope: The believers
ILLUS.: When Jesus rose from the dead, the sheaf of first fruits of the barley harvest was being waved by the High Priest
in the Temple. It was the specimen, pattern & pledge of all the rest. Christ’s resurrection is that & more for the believer.
Without Christ the “firstfruits” of our resurrection there is no hope!
CONCL.: Are YOU living in “DARK FRIDAY” or “BRIGHT SUNDAY?”
HYMN: Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia! Amen!
