Well, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event throughout all of history.Throughout all of history, I read this quote to you a few weeks back when we began our road to the resurrection series. But author Clarence Hall says the resurrection of Jesus changes the face of death for all his people, death is no longer a prison, but a passage into God's presence. Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but it will rise.Here's the way C S Lewis talks about it. He says Jesus has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the very first man he has met, fought and beaten, the king of death. Everything is different because he has done so. This is the beginning of the new creation. A new chapter in cosmic history has opened.And so the finished work of Jesus, Christ on the cross and his resurrection, guys, and what he's saying is there is that's what makes Christianity Christianity. It wouldn't be Christianity without it. It's what separates us from all the other world religions, as Emily alluded to earlier. And so again, we declare this morning that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event throughout all of history. The Apostle Paul put it this way in First Corinthians, chapter 15 of our Bibles, he says, For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance, this is what is most important, central to who we are as Christians, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. And remember, this is the apostle Paul, who used to be Saul, who didn't believe in a resurrected Jesus. As a matter of fact, he was responsible for persecuting people who believed in a resurrected Jesus and make them to suffer and to even kill some of them, until one day, the resurrected Jesus appeared to him. Personally,there's something about the fact that if you don't believe in a resurrected Jesus, and the resurrected Jesus appears to you that will mess with your theology.It messed with Paul's theology.He believed in Jesus, and His life was forever changed. And we know that to be true because he writes an overwhelming majority of what we see in the New Testament of our Bibles, and here, he says it's of first importance. There might be some secondary issues and some things we can disagree on, but we cannot disagree on this. This is central to who we are, and I think that's why, not only does the Apostle Paul declare it here, but we see so much of it written in the gospels, did you know that over 1/3 of Matthew, Mark and Luke is devoted to the last week of Jesus's life? Half of the book of John is devoted to the last week. They're writing about three years of ministry, earthly ministry, and they choose to write the longest, the most, about one week during that three year time period, which just tells you the importance of this. This is of first importance. We've got to know this. This is what changes everything.And so this morning, let's look at the way one of those disciples named Matthew, is a former tax collector, tells us about what happened on this day a few 1000 years ago, and then we'll talk more specifically about how it impacted them, and then how it impacts us today, in Matthew chapter 28 beginning in verse one, he says, after the Sabbath at the dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. How would you like to be known as the other Mary for all of eternity? Imagine how many times you gotta explain that when people show up in heaven. Oh, you're the other Mary. That's me. But you know, most likely this was Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, that's referred to earlier, but Matthew tells us that she and Mary Magdalene were going to the tomb. Now, Matthew doesn't tell us here, but the other gospel writers tell us what they were going for, truly going for they were going to finalize the body for burial. I.Now there's a couple of things to notice about this that are important. First, while the men, while the disciples were hungered down, locked in a room having run away, denied Jesus and are scared for their lives, these women are putting themselves out there in front of those who killed Jesus and want to harm those who followed them.To me, that first of all, says a lot about their courage, a lot about the impact that Jesus must have had on their lives for them to take this risk and be out in the open in this moment. The other thing I think it says to us, though, is that it it makes it a little more valid about what Matthew is writing here in the way the other disciples wrote about it. Because if we ever have any doubts about whether, did the disciples make this up? I mean, did it really happen? Or is this just something they were writing trying to convince everyone that it happened? Well, most likely, if you were trying to make up a story like this, you wouldn't write it the way that Matthew has written here. You wouldn't make the men all scared and hiding and the women the courageous ones, especially in this culture where women were considered unequal in status to men, and their testimony, quite frankly, wasn't even valid in court. And so I think that's the first thing that we kind of notice here about the way that Matthew writes this. But the other thing that we see is that these women were not going to this tomb to look for a risen Jesus. They were going to look for a dead Jesus to prepare his body for burial. Jesus had told him this was going to happen, but either they didn't understand it, or they didn't believe it something, but what Matthew tells us happened next changed everything for them as well. Look in verse two, it says there was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. Now think about that. We're talking about Roman guards trained Roman soldiers who were known in this day and age for their incredible courage and their shaking in fear.These guys had been trained for this kind of thing. Donald Hagner puts it this way. He says, the ones assigned to guard the dead themselves appear dead while the dead one has been made alive.These guards are battle hardened veterans used to being in fearful situations, but nothing, nothing has prepared them for this encounter of the supernatural.I mean, it's one thing to experience an earthquake that's frightening enough, but then to come across an angel. And if you read anything in Scripture, you know that when you came in the presence of an angel, it was a fearful and a terrifying thing, and it had these guards playing dead. They were so scared. No doubt the women were too, which is what Matthew alludes to next, and what happened in verse five, it says the angel said to the women, do not be afraid.I think we might skip over that a lot of times and not even notice the grace that's there. Don't, don't be afraid. It's okay. God did not send this angel to condemn them. He didn't send them to shame them, to scare them, to punish them, but to give them grace, to help them see, to open their eyes to the things that God had already done. And so in verse five, again, he says, The angel said to the women, don't be afraid. For I know, I know that you were looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen, just as he said, Come and see the place where he lay. And so the angel, again, reminds him he talked about this with you,and it happened just as he said it was, but he invites them to not just take his word for it.Come on in. Just just see for yourself that he is not actually here. Now we need to note here that this is why the guard, or the angel, excuse me, had rolled back the stone. See this angel didn't show up to remove the stone so that Jesus could come out.This angel showed up to remove the stone to let the women in so that they could see what God had already done. Jesus didn't need the angel to show up and remove the stone he had already.Been resurrected. He wasn't there. This is just to help them see, invite them in to experience it first hand, for themselves. I think this is one of those other things that we see in Scripture that helps us point to the validity of these claims. People knew where this tomb was. The stone had been rolled back. There was no dead body there. I mean, if this is one of the things that people were just going guys, this didn't really happen. I wish you guys would just quit talking about this Jesus guy. Look, come on over to the tomb, and I'll show you there he is. He's dead. He's right there. Now quit talking about all of this nonsense about him being dead, and just go on with your lives.But they couldn't do that, of course, because Jesus really wasn't there. That's what the angel was invited Go see for yourselves. He's not there. This had really happened. He wanted them to know about it. He wanted to make sure that they understood what had happened. But it wasn't just the women, and that's what we find out next. Verse seven, he tells them to go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you.I think again, it's just worth pointing out how much grace we see here in what the angel is telling them to do. I mean, these are the disciples who had been so selfish the last several days they had fallen asleep whenever Jesus had asked them to pray in the garden the night before he was betrayed, they had failed to see with spiritual eyes and believe in what was really going to happen that he had already told them. They had denied him while he was on trial. They were in hiding right now, in this moment, scared, and so the angel could have shown up and said, just forget about them.They failed. They don't deserve to see Jesus. Just go tell them that he's moving on from them. They had their chance, but they failed.But instead of deserting them, instead of moving on to the next people, instead of lashing out at them, instead of guilting them, instead of shaming them, he sends the women to tell them that he wants to see them.Does that bring anyone else here some comfort, or is it just me?I mean, I think that tells us. It just shows us that in times of our own failures, in times of our own faithlessness, that God is so faithful to us. This is who our God is. He draws near, he comforts, He invites us in, even in our failures and our faithlessness, to himas we're on this journey.Verse eight, so the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly, Jesus met them, greetings, he said, and Matthew says, They came to him, clasped his feetand worshiped him.What grace we see again,I mean,women, we said this earlier, were seen as unequal to men in this culture. They were so devalued in so many ways. And the angel had just met with them and said, Hey, go tell the disciples that Jesus wants to meet with them. The men, right?And then, before they can ever get to the men,he makes a personal appearance with them.I'm gonna let you the ones who are devalued, the ones who are seen as unequal in this particular society and culture. You get to see me first.This is how much I value you. This is how I view you. This is how important you are to me. And so I just think we see so much grace in Jesus appearing to them in the way that he sees and elevated the status of women throughout this culture and day and age, which again, applies to us so much today, as wellas he does, Matthew says that they clasped his feet. That's to make sure that we understand this was not some spiritual resurrection. Wasn't a ghost, right? It was a bodily resurrection. They clasped his feet, his body, they bowed down before him, and face down, they worshiped Him, which, of course, is an appropriate response when you see resurrected Jesus. It's an appropriate response for all of us. And yet, while they were responding this way, and that was certainly a good thing, what we see next in verse 10 is.Jesus interrupts them.He does so to give them a mission. Look what he says. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, where they will see me. It's incredible, right?Jesus gives these womenwho are unequal in status, devalued and looked down on so many ways, testimony didn't even count in court and commissions them to be the first witnesses of the resurrection to go share the gospel and the good news that Jesus is alive and defeated the power of sin and death forever.Amazing.And they do, they do go, they leave here, and they go meet with the disciples, and they share that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and as the other disciples began to hear about this and experience the risen Jesus themselves, it transformed and changed their lives forever. I mean, these guys go from being weak, ordinary, fearful men, into two powerful and courageous SONS OF GOD who transformed and changed the world so much so 2000 years ago that we are still talking about it today.What got into them?I mean, was it just one of those things where, oh my gosh, this is so inspiring. We saw Jesus rise from the dead. It inspired us. We we huddled up and we decided that, because we were so inspired that we were gonna give it our all, we're gonna come up with the best strategy that we can come up to make sure that everybody we're gonna set these goals to make sure this number of people here, and this number of people here, and this number of people here and all of these things, and we're just gonna go get after it like you've got nothing else togive. That's not what happened. It's not what happened at all. These guys didn't appear and see the resurrected Jesus to find some inner strength within themselves to make them some best version of themselves. That's not what is happening here.What happened is that the disciples listen to this. The disciples experienced a resurrection in their own lives as well.They were completely transformed. They were changed from the inside out. They were born again and made into someone completely different than they had been before. Jesus met with him just before He ascended and went back to heaven and told him this was going to happen. Acts one eight, he says, Guys, when i i leave, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, and when I, when I do, you're going to receive power. He says, in that power, you'll have it wasn't there before. It's going to be there now. And in Acts chapter two, we see the power come. We see the Holy Spirit come, and he begins to indwell them and change them. And so one moment it wasn't there, and in the next moment, it was there, and it transformed and changed them into someone so differentthat they changed the world. Is that power was expressed through them. I've used this illustration a number of times. It just helps me see it a little bit better, and I hope it'll help you see it if you haven't been here and heard me, or if you have to remember it and be encouraged by it. I think almost everyone is familiar with the Marvel character, Peter Parker. We know that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider. The DNA from the radioactive spider came inside of Peter Parker. It hadn't been in him the moment before, but now something alien to him came inside of him, and so much so that it became a part of him. This spider's DNA merged with his human DNA, so that he was no longer just a man, but he was born again into a spider man. He was different before he had a new power working in him that he did not have before. And this is the same kind of image, the same kind of thing when we think about the Holy Spirit coming to dwell inside the disciples, giving them a power that they did not have before, changing them into someone that they were not before First Peter, chapter one, verse three, tells us, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to His great mercy, listen to this. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope. How through the resurrection of Jesus, Christ from the dead. This is what happened to the disciples through the resurrection of Jesus, they were resurrected into someone and born again into someone new, someone different than they were before that moment. You.They had a resurrection power now working in them and through them.And that's how they transformed and changed the world. Because it was Jesus, the resurrection power, him doing it in them and through them. And my hope, what I'm getting at, and I'm Hope you've seen this is where we were going all along, is guys, that this same thing happens to any of us today who put our faith and trust in Jesus for salvation the moment that we believe we are completely forgiven based on his finished work to pay the penalty for all of our sins, and in that moment, the Spirit who was outside of us comes into us, and now we experience a resurrection in that moment and we have a new power dwelling inside of us as well. Letme see if this helps you visualize it even more.The apostle Paul writes this in Colossians three, one through three.He says, since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things, For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Notice the language there. Paul says, since you've been raised with Christ, what tense is that?It's past tense. He's writing to a group of believers who had put their faith and trust in Jesus, and he's saying, you've already been raised with Christ. He doesn't say, One day you'll be raised with Christ, since you've been raised with Christ, since that's already happened in your life, and if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus for salvation, then you've been raised with Christ. You are experiencing a resurrection. You are not who you once were.Notice the image that Paul gives us here. We'll do this. We've done this before, but just again, it helps me so much, and because it helps me, I hope that it helps you. And again, maybe some of you weren't here, but the image that Paul gives us in Colossians one three, it says that God the Father is sitting on the throne,and he says that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. So this is the picture of God the father sitting on the throne Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. And he says, since you've been raised with Christ,and so let me ask you a question, if you've been raised with Christ, and Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Then where are you sitting? Right now, in this moment,right here.Do you see it?Christ said that your life is now hidden with Christ, in God,you see it.Your life is hidden with Christ in God. It's not God up here and you down there in this separation between the two. It's you're in union with God. You've been born again and raised with Christ into someone new. Now think about this for a moment. A lot of times, we're always thinking about the person we need to become, the place that we need to get in life, and where we've got to get to in order to be who it is that we're supposed to be. Let me ask you another question. Do you think if you weren't already who you were supposed to be, that you could be sitting right here with Christ in God,if you weren't who you were supposed to be already. If you weren't completely forgiven, could you be sitting here with Jesus in this moment spiritually? No. If you weren't holy and you weren't righteous in Christ, then would you be able to sit in this position right here? There's no way. And yet, most of us are living our lives like God's up here. We're down there. We haven't experienced any kind of resurrection yet. It may happen one day in the future, and I'm trying to just work my way to become the person that I'm supposed to be, and where it is that I'm supposed to be further down the road. And when you see this image that your life is hidden with Christ in God, and you've already experienced a resurrection in your life, then that changes the way that we're able to live life down here.You haven't experienced a bodily resurrection. That's why you're still able to sit here and be here at the same time. But do you see now this image of how that allows you to live differently down here, because it's no longer something that you have to live for. You are not having to live for Jesus. Stop using that language. I'm living for Jesus. No, you're not. You're living from Jesus.Your life is hidden with Christ, in God, he's your source. And now, because you've been changed and you have been altered.Into someone new with this resurrection power, it is able to flow through you from here down into there. You're able to experience it in your lives here, and others are able to experience it as it flows through you as well. And so when we're talking this morning about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are not talking about just him. Well, good for him. That's great. I guess he really was God. You know, we're not talking about some future thing where we're just going, Okay, I guess one day I'll get to experience a resurrection. When we're talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sending of the spirit, we're talking about how we present tense right now, have experienced a resurrection in our lives. If we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, we've become someone new. And now, instead of trying to get to be who it is that we feel like we need to be, how about just learning how to live out of the new US that we've become?This is what's true about me. I don't need to worry about trying to become someone I'm not. I just need to learn to live out of who I already am in Christ, to live from this placeas I enter into the world down here. And sometimeshe's going to use that in big, powerful ways that impact other people around you, andsometimes it's going to be a lot more gentle,because down here we still experience suffering, we still experience pain, and we still experience loss, but because we've experienced a resurrection, anything that we're going through down Here, we're not doing it alone ever.He's always here, comforting us, empathizing with us, holding us, loving us, providing for us, comforting us in anything and everything that we go through that changes the way we walk through life. When we get that we've already experienced a resurrection now, and don't have to wait for it one day.And so the application, what Paul says in Colossians three, is, since that's true, set your hearts and your minds on those things, on who Jesus is and who you are in Christ,and go live who you are, who you've been remade into. And if you haven't ever put your faith in Christ and received His free gift of salvation, then obviously what we're saying here is this is not true of you. God, the Father is sitting on his throne. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, and you're down there, down here, and he is up here because sin is a barrier between you and him, and you're having to fight and you're having to crawl and scrap and dig and figure out a way to experience life, because you're missing the one who is life in you. And that's why every time you think you find some experience through your job or work or any temporary pleasures, it never lasts. You're always having to try to find more life because you're not in union with the one who is abundant life. But the great news for you is that no matter who you are, no matter where you've been, no matter what it is that you've done, that this can become true of you if you'll just received His free gift of salvation really quickly. And I've done it a number of times, but if I wanted to give you one of myself, my cell phone here, it's a gift. One of you can have it today. It would never be yours until you physically came up here and grabbed it and took it with you. You have to receive the gift that someone offers for you, or it's not really yours. And Jesus has secured everything necessary for the forgiveness of your sins to be raised with new life with him and experience a resurrection right now, and he offers it to you as a gift. And the question this morning is, have you received it?Can you remember a specific point in time where you've received the gift? Here's your forgiveness, and you can I know when I was 10 years old that lights were turned on, Jesus was offering me His forgiveness, and I received it by putting my faith and trust, and my life has never been the same since, and your life won't be either.And so that's the response if you're here today and you've never received this free gift of salvation, and I'll give you a chance to respond and receive it right now in this moment, let's pray,Jesus, once again, we are so grateful for your love for us, for the way that youwillingly died on the cross for our sins.We thank you for the new life that we have in you, for those of us who have put our faith and trust in you for salvation,my prayer this morning is just that we would keep our eyes fixed on you,the new creation that we've become, that we'd learn how to live out of the new you that you've created us to beGod for those who might be here today and who have never put their faith and trust in you, I pray that you'll continue to speak to them in this moment.Continue.You to help them know just not in their minds, but in their hearts, that no matter who they are, nomatter where they've been,that really, no matter what they've done, that Jesus, you willingly took their sins to the cross.And I pray for any kids who are here in this moment. I pray for any teenagers, any adults, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, great grandparents, who are here right nowthat you'll continueto open up their hearts and minds to receive you and your love and your grace and Your forgiveness right now in this moment, if they've never done so, youand if that's you this morning and you're ready, you can't remember a specific time that you put your faith and trust and you want you know that's what you've been missing.You know that you need us forgiveness.You know that you want to be resurrected already and experience that abundant life in him.You can receive that gift right now by just praying a simple prayer of faith.You could say something like this in the quietness of your own hearts right now, Dear God, I recognize that I'm a sinnerand that my sin separates me from you.But Jesus, thank you for coming to die on the cross for my sins andfor rising from the dead,and right now, in this moment, I put my faith and trust in You, Jesus to be the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through you.Please forgive me.Come live in me,change me, resurrect me,and allow me to learn to live out of the new me that I'm becoming right now in this moment.Thank you for your love,your grace and your salvation.It's in Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen.