He has risen. Amen. I mean, it's Easter Sunday, right? This is amazing. I am so excited. I hope you are too. Would you take out a Bible if you don't have one? There's probably one under the chair in front of you or nearby you and we are going to look at Mark 16 versus one through eight this morning as we bring to a conclusion. An 18-month sermon series through the Gospel of Mark that we called the Cross-Shape Life in the Gospel of Mark. If you're a guest with us, you get to be here on the last day of this sermon series. But you're also here on the first day of our new series over the next several weeks. We're going to be looking at how God makes all things new and it's all springing from this news of the resurrection that we'll talk about this morning. So if you are a guest, we're really glad you're here. We hope you feel very loved and very welcomed because you are. So let's look at Mark 16, one through eight. This is God's holy and true word. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go and annoy him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb. And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed. And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him but go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you and they went out and fled from the tomb for trembling in astonishment had seized them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we do ask that you would send now your Holy Spirit to fill us and to open our eyes and hearts to the amazing glory and grace that we find only in Jesus Christ. Our risen Lord and Savior, Lord, we thank you that we can gather here together and to celebrate you and your amazing grace and the finished work of Jesus on the cross and the proof of your acceptance of that work on our behalf, the proof that comes from the resurrection. So Holy Spirit, work in us now and I pray that we would all see the glory of Jesus shine even brighter than when we came in here today after we spent some time in your word. We pray these things in Jesus name and for His sake. Amen. We love stories that end well. We love when we are watching a movie or reading a book and everything works out somehow in the end. We really like that and I think it is pretty safe to say that we don't like it when things don't seem to work out. No, we will say it is a tragedy, but inside we are frustrated. Some of us experienced one of those situations when we were watching Downton Abbey a couple of seasons ago, Downton fans. Well, Downton Abbey is a great show on PBS. It is about this family in the 20th century in England and the earliest part of the 20th century and there is this situation where at the end of this season one of the really beloved characters, this guy named Matthew, he is like everybody loves him, he kind of courts one of the members of this family and he marries her and then they have a baby and then he dies. And everybody who is watching this show immediately is absolutely repulsed and frustrated and when they ran it in England, they showed that right around Christmas and the outrage that people showed was kind of funny. Let me read some of the quotes. People wrote in and they wrote to Julian Fellows the author. Now here is a thing. The man who plays Matthew, Dan Stevens, he needed to leave the show, he wanted to do other things. So Julian Fellows the writer of the show had him killed and so people write and they said this is a travesty, this is a tragedy in an outrage. One person says you've ruined Christmas. One person said you're killing my soul and my favorite one person wrote in all caps to signify yelling, I am 100% done with this show, I can't breathe. And then someone wrote on Twitter apparently I'm still not over the Downton Christmas episode so I'm just going to rewatch all the happy episodes and pretend everything is swell. So we don't like it when stories don't end well and that is what makes the resurrection of Jesus Christ which really isn't the end of the story at all. In one sense it's the beginning. But it's what makes the resurrection of Jesus Christ such absolutely amazing news powerful in the lives of all who believe it. It is the proof and the promise to all who believe that God makes all things new. That's what we're celebrating when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. That the resurrection of Jesus is the proof and promise to all who believe that God is making all things new. Amen. So let's look here this morning we're going to talk about three things. We want to talk about a challenging belief. I mean believing in the resurrection is actually a challenge. So we'll talk about that a little bit. I think this text helps us with that and then we'll talk a little bit about how God works. There's some really interesting things in this passage that give us some insight into the very nature of God and how he works. And last we'll just briefly talk about the life changing grace that we see in this passage as well. So if you have your Bible still open, keep it open, we'll kind of walk through this passage. Let's look at verses one and two and let's just be honest. This is a challenging belief. It's sometimes hard to believe in the resurrection. Look at verse one. It says when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Solomon bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus, anoint his dead body that is and very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen they went to the tomb. So what's happening here? Jesus was crucified on Friday, good Friday. And the Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday at sundown and then it goes to Saturday at sundown. And there are certain things that Jews were not allowed to do on the Sabbath, one of which would be touch of dead body or deal with any types of things that have to do with work. And therefore Jesus died on Friday so late in the day that they only had time to get him into the tomb. They didn't have time to do a lot of the customary burial practices which is adding spices and oils and things like that. So basically what we're seeing here it says when the Sabbath was passed that means Saturday evening sundown Saturday now they could go and so they went and they bought the spices and they got everything that they were going to need to do what they didn't have time to do on Friday. And then early in the morning on Sunday they head out to the tomb and they're planning on finishing these burial preparations. Now this is actually very curious you think about it because it's very clear from their actions that they do not expect Jesus to be alive. They expect Jesus to still be dead and in fact we should say nobody expected Jesus to be alive. None of the disciples expected Jesus to be alive. These women actually themselves were disciples. In fact in chapter 15 verse 41 Mark tells us that these women were followers of Jesus from the time he was in Galilee. And so here's the thing somebody should have realized that Jesus should be alive that day. Why? Well because he told them he told them he told the disciples multiple times at least three that we see in Mark look at this. This is Mark 831 it says in Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders in the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And we see the same thing in chapter 9 and then the same thing again in chapter 10 and so the question is why why wasn't anyone going to the tomb expecting to him expecting for him to be alive. And the answer is because it was just as hard to believe that somebody could really be raised from the dead back then as it is today. I mean think about this given the volume of times that Jesus told this to them the disciples are literally the most forgetful people in the history of the world. Friday's one day Saturday's two day Sunday would be the third day didn't he say. Didn't he say something about the third day guys. Let's have lunch. They're either the most forgetful people in the history of the world or they struggle to believe that someone could be raised from the dead just like you do just like I do sometimes. What does that tell us well that tells us if you struggle to believe in the resurrection or any of the difficult things that we find in the Bible you are normal normal that's normal and that should be reassuring realizing that it's normal that we struggle to believe some of these things sometimes. The reality is nobody can prove definitively that Jesus did raise rise from the dead nobody can prove definitively that he didn't so whether you believe or not either way you're going on faith. And what we see in this passage and what we receive through faith in Christ because of the resurrection calls us compels us to believe to use our faith to believe he did indeed rise from the dead that he is risen. We're going to keep going here want to talk a little bit about how God works okay we can see a little bit about how God works in this passage as we choose to believe that he did indeed rise from the dead look at verse three. Verse three says and they were saying these are the ladies they were saying to one another who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb and looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled back it was very large. Simply put this what's happening here they're on their way they've got the spices and suddenly they realize whoa how are we going to get in. The stones that they would roll into place were extremely have a extremely difficult took many many people to open up and so they realize suddenly that they weren't going to be able to do this. Mark says the stone is very large he uses the Greek word mega okay this is you know like a mega large stone they needed they realize they would need some help for sure. Now what's interesting though is that all four gospels record that women were the first witnesses to the resurrection okay and what this tells us number one as far as how God works is that God rarely does things the way we would expect him to God rarely does things the way we would expect him to if we were planning this out you and I would have never chosen women to be the first witnesses. Now hold on don't get offended just listen to me the reason that you and I would not have chosen women is because we would have known that nobody's going to believe it. Again don't get offended just listen in the first century things were wildly different than they are now right now for men and women both come up to you and say the same thing or say different things. It's going to be it is hard to believe or disbelieve one or the other doesn't matter right. But that then the testimony of women was seen as not credible not valuable not trustworthy and so scholars agree that basically if this isn't made up story then the most foolish thing that they did is to have women to be the first witnesses of the resurrection. It because there's no way it would have spread so far and wide if that were if it weren't true and that's why they many think men and I believe that it is true. That it's true that Jesus really did rise from the grave and God also shows us that he doesn't do the things the way we would do things and he's so glorious and powerful he can put the best news hard to believe but the best news ever in the mouths of the very people who would be least likely to be believed. And it still goes for that's a glorious God. So God rarely does things the way we would expect that's important as a 558 says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord and that's important that we understand that sometimes when we struggle to believe things a big part is because he doesn't do things the way we would do. Another unbelievably amazing and sweet thing in this passage number two God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. This is at the very nature of who God is at the creator. He does for his people what we cannot do for ourselves look at verse 4 again it says looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large now that the way that mark words this is very intentional he uses what's called a divine passive what that means is there's certain times in marks gospel and another testament things where there is a phrase which is it's you know something happens but it's not really attributed to anything or anyone and that tells us that that's actually attributed to God. So what mark is saying here in the way that he worded this is that God had rolled back the stone himself there on their way worried thinking there's no way we're ever going to be able to move this massive stone and they get there and they find that God has already done it for them the women show up and it's crystal clear they are not workers in this situation they are witnesses. It's not about what they would do in this moment it's about what he had already done for them and that is such an amazing picture of what the gospel really is that everything in the Bible is really about what God has done. It's not about what you and I must do look at verse 5 this is what this news is to us verse 5 says entering the tomb they saw young man sitting at the right side dressed in white robe and they were alarmed and he said to them do not be alarmed you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified he has risen he is not here. See the place where they laid him this young man is an angel we know that because of the way that mark describes him being dressed and we also know from the other gospel accounts but mark doesn't want to focus on that mark's not focusing on the messenger so much as the message that is to be believed because of what it means. So the message is he is risen that's what we're celebrating and that's the focus of this moment is that message he is risen he is not here why well let me let me tell you something about the nature of the resurrection of Jesus Christ the nature of the resurrection see the reality is Jesus is the first of this new humanity that God is assembling is creating in and through what Christ has done Jesus is the first so like you probably familiar with the new testament you know that there were other people who came back from the dead like Lazarus and John 11 or like the little girl that Jesus raised from the dead in Mark chapter 5 but there's a difference those people were dead and came back from the dead they just got their body back their old body back and then later they ended up dying again Jesus is different Wayne He says Jesus was the first fruits quoting Paul from 1 Corinthians 15 first fruits of a new kind of human life a life in which his body was made perfect no longer subject to weakness aging or death and able to live eternally that's a huge difference and just coming back to life again he is resurrected with this new body that is perfect physical he was physically resurrected we know that because in Matthew 28 the disciples grab onto his feet and in Luke 24 he holds bread eat fish and says that he has a real body so we know that it was physical but there's something new there's nothing ever like this before now why is this matter it matters because there are absolutely amazing and if you believe them life changing truths attached to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and began this newness of life for example let me explain some of these things number one Christ resurrection guarantees our justification if you're not familiar with that word I'll tell you what it means in a second but this is huge that Christ resurrection guarantees our justification Paul locks that in in Romans 4 25 we actually already read this earlier today but listen to this Paul was talking about Jesus our Lord he said who was delivered up for our trespasses that's our sins and raised for our justification to be justified before God is to be forgiven of all of your sins and declared righteous and that is received by faith you can't do anything to earn that that's the point here God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves you and I cannot pay for our sins there's nothing we can do to make up for what we've done we also cannot in any way earn God's righteousness or his favor we can't earn it through what we do it can only be given to us for free by faith by grace and that's what we see in what Paul says in Jesus being raised for our justification so when we look at the resurrection of Jesus what we're seeing is God's stamp of approval where he's saying I look at what Jesus has done in his life and in his death and I credit that to you the perfect life of Christ and the sinner's death of Christ is all attributed to us that we receive through faith and that's why the resurrection is absolutely essential it proves that God has forgiven you of all of your sins if you are a believer and he has declared you righteous you can't do that he did that for you number two Christ's resurrection enables our regeneration first Peter one three it says blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and so being born again getting a new life is nothing that you can do you you we can try to turn over a new leaf and start over and all that goes on at infinitum but when we receive Christ by faith we are born into a new life and that's what we see Peter is tying that to the resurrection resurrection proves that we receive that new life by faith and it's a life of hope I love that he says at born again to a living hope and so it's a life of hope it's a life where we have a new heart a new relationship with God new desires new abilities to serve and bless people we're able to glorify and enjoy God in this new life it's and it's all God's doing God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves and tied to the resurrection is this amazing reality that we get to be born again to a new life and we have as much to do with being born again as we did with being born the first time and unless you're really weird you had nothing to do with being born the first time right
God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves third Christ's resurrection guarantees that we will receive resurrected bodies this looks to the future when when Jesus returns and he makes all things new okay he is making all things new when he returns so complete that and finish making all things new and part of that will be our bodies that we will receive resurrected bodies just like Jesus bodies that can't age bodies that can't get sick bodies that can't get hurt and for all of us who have aches and pains or sickness or you name it that we suffer with that's all God for eternity Paul says in 1st Corinthians 6, 14 God raised the Lord Jesus and will also raise us up by his power so we can expect that when Jesus said he is the resurrection in the life he was absolutely serious and that through faith we are promised a resurrection to a new life with a perfect body in the future and can I just say like side note Bible does say that we're going to be like Jesus when when he comes and I just I think it's pretty awesome that in John 20 Jesus walks through walls and in Luke 24 he disappears and sort of teleports and in Acts chapter 1 he ascends or flies and so I'm kind of thinking we might be able to walk through walls teleport and fly
so there's that but you you think about this you could not you cannot get enough surgeries you cannot take enough drugs or medicines
to feel completely and permanently pain free you can't do that on your own but God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves for Christ's resurrection guarantees this amazing future where we see all these things come true where the world is made new everyone in it is made new and it becomes this perfect place and this is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 17 through 19 he says a pretty shocking thing he says if Christ does not been raised your faith is futile you're still in your sins then those who have fallen asleep or died already in Christ have perished if in Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people most to be pitted that's pretty strong what Paul is saying that if Christ was not raised if Christ was not raised Christianity is a waste of time that's because if if he wasn't raised then there really is no reconciliation with God there's no way for us to really have a new life that some of us have and some of us are surely longing for there's no promise of an eternity of bliss there's just just nothing there's a bunch of rules in the Bible that we don't like a lot of them anyway I mean it's worthless oh but if he was raised and he was and since he was raised all these things are true all these amazing promises that we are completely reconciled to God that when he looks at you and me who have faith he looks and he doesn't see our sin he sees the righteousness of Christ us clothed in his righteousness he's our father in heaven he looks at us he sings when he thinks about us says the prophet Zephaniah I mean that is absolutely life changing also the the new life this new power this new ability that we get through faith in Christ that's true and we know that's true because of the resurrection and then we're guaranteed that amazing future as well he is risen he is risen indeed and those who believe get this life of hope now and that is why we're here I want to I want to extend an invitation briefly to anybody who's if you're visiting with us for your guests with us today and you live nearby I just want you to come back for the next few weeks because we're going to be in this sermon series and we're going to just keep talking about all this newness and just everywhere you look it can be newness okay and and if and if you're alive right now if you want something new you've got to come back because we're just going to walk through several passages over the next several weeks and talk about this new status and all the amazing things that surround that this new identity we get through faith in Christ this new power that we have a new future as well a lot of the things that we've talked about but in much greater detail and then just shockingly amazing truths that we'll be talking about so so choose to come back we'd love to have you back last let me talk about this life changing grace look at verse seven and eight he says the angel says to the ladies but go tell us disciples and Peter that he's going before you to Galilee there you will see him just as he told you and they run away very afraid not saying anything to anyone until they do eventually reach the disciples until them we see in the other gospels the really what we see then is Jesus is the proof that God is a God of grace think about this like all of the disciples every one of them had fled had abandoned Jesus they had failed him miserably especially Peter Peter while Jesus was being mocked and spit upon and beaten by the in the in the courts Peter's out in the courtyard denying that he even knows Jesus so if there'd ever been people who had failed Jesus failed God it was the disciples and that's what's so powerful about this that basically what this is saying is that the desertion of the disciples and the denial of Peter are not the final word the last word belongs to Jesus what he had said before still holds true that's why the angel says just as he told you because before all of this had happened Jesus said I will meet you in Galilee and what they're finding out right now is that he still wants to meet them there which means
that his love and his devotion is still 100% intact unchanged by their tremendous failures why how does he do that how does he overlook their sin I mean they really really failed him miserably how does he overlook that he doesn't overlook it he paid for it that's what was happening on the cross not just for them but for all who believe every sin we've ever committed the guilt of that and the punishment that's due for that was all placed upon Jesus and then the wrath of God to follow Jesus took the hell that we deserve and so therefore his relationship we see here there's relationship with him how does he say I still want to be with you in Galilee I still have a mission for you I still love you so care about you how does he do that he does that because his relationship with them is not based on what they do or do not do his relationship with them was based solely on what he had done for them that's grace and that's the way it works with you and me if we receive Christ by faith God basis his relationship with us on what not on what we have done or not on anything we could do but solely on what Jesus has done for us that's why the church is a place for people who are admitting that they're failures that's what we are we are people who have failed God this righteous God and creator of all things the judge of all the earth we have failed him miserably that's who we are but the resurrection proves that even though we failed him miserably he receives us his love is unchanged his acceptance is full all because of what Christ has done and that is life changing so if you if you listen if you're not walking with Jesus I want you to know that through I believe the word today God is saying to you perhaps he's whispering perhaps he's shouting you don't have to be riddled with guilt anymore if you want to receive Christ through faith he will lift that from you God is also saying to you that if you are sick of powerlessness and wanting to change but just not being able the new life that you have through Christ is available to you through faith receive him by faith today put your trust in him and those of you who wonder what's what is it going to be like in the end I mean in the end what what's really going to happen you don't have to worry about that because of the resurrection you can walk around all day every day knowing that in the end everything for those of us those of us who believe it's going to be far better than okay it's going to be beyond amazing beyond our wildest dreams amazing not because of anything that we could ever do all because of what our king has done as Jack and the musicians come up to lead us in song we're going to we're going to sing these words and I specifically am wanting to just you who are really feeling the weight of your sin we're going to sing these words let no one caught in sin remain inside the lie of inward shame but fix our eyes upon the cross and run to him who showed great love and blood for us freely he bled for us and then how can you celebrate that we'll sing Christ is risen from the dead trampling over death by death come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave let's pray father I love the truth and I love how you've changed me and I look forward to the day when you finish the work and I know we got a long way to go so I praise your name and I praise you that all my brothers and sisters here by faith have been forgiven they've been declared righteous they've been adopted as your children and for those who are not walking with Jesus Lord would you grab ahold of their hearts and show that you are a God of grace and change them forever for we pray in Jesus name who was raised from the dead for our justification amen