The Easter Soldiers

When we think about Easter and when we think about the resurrection we typically think of the people that we saw pictured there Obviously and rightly so we think of the Lord Jesus Christ For he is the one who died for us and he came forth from the tomb victorious over death Trampled death by death. I heard on some music. I was listening to in the way back from Charlotte last night Trampled death by death. It was by his own death that he trampled all over death and by his resurrection that he gained victory over Death and so we think of our Lord the glory of his coming to life That's obviously rightly so the focus of our worship on this Easter and really every Lord's day Which is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ. We may also think of those disciples Peter and John as we saw them running to the tomb John the younger getting there first but waiting for his elder Peter to come and look in we think of them witnessing that for the first time and not grasping yet what's happened thinking that somehow his body has been moved or taken We think of his appearance to Peter the Bible tells us that he appeared to Peter on that that day of the resurrection We don't have any other information about what happened there what transpired what was said there But just to imagine Jesus in a one-on-one meeting with Peter what an amazing scene that must have been and we think about The two on the road to Emmaus Who were leaving Jerusalem Dispondent they've heard reports that his body has been taken But they don't yet understand the resurrection so they're despond that they're going back home And Jesus appears to them on the road to Emmaus their home And then the 11 in the upper room that evening first Sunday evening service in the Bible and they met together to See our Lord an amazing amazing scene or we might think of the women the first to the tomb the ones who came to Annoyed his body to to prepare his body with the spices and ointments We think of them on that Easter morning in Mary Magdalene as she heard him call her name and finally recognize The first one to grasp what had happened and they run back to tell the disciples We think of all of those people wonderful wonderful scenes related to the Easter story in the resurrection of Christ But this morning I want us to focus on some more minor characters The Easter soldiers The soldiers who were told to guard the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ I Want us to focus on them because although they may seem like really minor characters They don't play a very important part Actually the Roman soldiers assigned to guard the tomb of Jesus intersect with the resurrection at three different points and So they are very intricately involved in the events of the resurrection of Christ We don't think about them much because they seem like an insignificant part of the story and only Matthew Tells us about them if it were not for Matthew's account We would know nothing of those Roman soldiers So I want to invite you along with me this morning to open your Bible to Matthew's gospel Matthew chapter 27 where we are first introduced to these Roman soldiers assigned and improbable task And that's the first intersection they have with the resurrection they are assigned a highly improbable task To guard the tomb of a dead man Well, what's the reason for this assignment? The Bible tells us here the reason for this assignment in Matthew 27 verse 62 the next day the one after Preparation day we get our bearings a little bit here Preparation day is Friday. That's the day everybody prepares for the Sabbath which is on Saturday so the next day which is Saturday The chief priests and the Pharisees went to pilot pilots the Roman Governor that has authorized the crucifixion the chief priests and Pharisees are their Jewish religious leaders That were the ones who engineered the the crucifixion and the death of Christ They've been after him for almost three years now trying to get him so they can put him to death They finally had done that so they go back to pilot on Saturday a day of they have supposed to be a day of rest Supposed to be a day of worship supposed to be a day where no activity takes place But they are very concerned about something so much so that they break The tight religious laws of the Sabbath that they themselves enforce on everybody else and they go to pilot and they want something Verse 63 sir, they said We remember that while he was still alive that The seaver said after three days. I will rise again So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day Otherwise his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead This last deception will be worse than the first So the religious leaders give the reason for this assignment They are afraid of a rumor starting They are not afraid of the resurrection They believe and declare here that Jesus is a deceiver In other words, they think everything he said about himself and all of his teachings were just a bunch of lies He was deceiving people But they remember that he proclaimed he would rise again the third day after his death in the interesting They remembered that but the disciples didn't The disciples were clueless the disciples didn't understand anything about what Jesus had said But the religious leaders caught it somewhere along the line. They remembered that he said he would do that and It's not because they believe it will come true They think the disciples may try to stage a mock resurrection Come steal his body and tell everybody that he's been raised to try to reinforce their claims that everything is true And that in their mind is a worst deception than Jesus deception Jesus they believe was a deceiver in what he taught and what he said they believe this could be even potentially more damaging That it could be at this second this afternoon be worse than the first Because if that story gets spread people start believing it. We're done. We're out of business And so they're afraid and So they assign men to this improbable task Gardening the tomb of a dead man you might expect Roman soldiers to guard the camp of Soldiers you might expect them to guard a town You might expect them to guard the head for the residents of a head of state or the governor You might expect them to guard some prisoners, but to guard the tomb of a dead man That is such an improbable task But the reason for it is the fear of the religious leaders That something would happen on the part of the disciples and this rumor would start and so a Guard unit is sent And notice the carrying out of this assignment verse 65 Take a guard pilot answered go make the tomb as secure as you know how and I really believe that was the expression in his voice I think I think pilot was done with these people He was sick and tired of the Jews they had just two three days earlier painted him into a corner and He was tired of their legal wrangling about their religion They had brought Jesus to him. He didn't find any fault any there was no capital crime committed He himself stated I find no fault in this man He washed his hands of the whole affair and said okay if you're gonna paint me into a corner by making me look treasonous He claimed to be the king of the Jews and if you if you say that I don't do something about that I'm against Caesar. Okay. Go ahead taking crucify him. I Wash my hands of the whole thing. He's fed up with these people and So I think when they come back to him The next day on Saturday. He said okay People just get out of here take a guard make the tomb as secure as you know how I'm not gonna be involved in that if you want it done you go do it and So that's what happens in verse 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard Now a Roman guard of a house or something like this not a whole camp or something but a Roman guard on This scale would typically be a guard of four soldiers and They would each take turns standing watch particularly if it was a night watch They would take turns four of them there four watches in the night Three hours each you'd take your three hours the other guys might sit might rest a little while and and you would watch for your three hours If anything happened you could wake your buddies up and you'd be ready to take care of things The seal the seal is not really that impressive the Bible says they made the tomb secure about putting a seal on the stone And maybe you thought of something that would would literally seal the stone in place and hold it in place That's not at all what it was The stone you saw rolled in the place on the screen was very similar to what would have happened in that day There was a narrow trench that would be cut in the rock in front of the tomb and right in front of the opening to the tomb There would be kind of a a bowl shaped part of that trench cut out So where the stone would be rolled down it would kind of drop in the place and it would be held there that way It would take several strong men to budge that thing work that thing up out of there and get it moved So they don't need to seal it in the sense of fastening it a Roman seal was nothing more than one or maybe several Depending on who you read towards strands of rope that were connected from the stone to the the rock face of the tomb and They would be connected with with wax on each side wax on the side of the rope that was on the stone wax on the stone face There may be one strand of rope. There may be four or five It's obviously not going to hold anything in place It's not a seal like you seal something you know with with concrete or you seal it with some kind of sealant that's going to close it up tight The thing that makes this seal so important and that guards the integrity of the tomb is that in each piece where wax has been placed The Roman insignia is stamped into that wax before it hardens and so the Roman seal or coat of arms if you will Is there to to signify this is an official Roman decision to seal off this tomb Anybody that moves the rock obviously snaps the rope the wax breaks loose It's very easy to see that it's been tampered with So that's the purpose of the seals These guards are basically there to make sure no one even tries By the way they were up to the challenge There's there are four soldiers there. They're the seals But if anybody tries to get to the tomb these guys are up to it You know sometimes we see pictures of the Roman soldiers and they're kind of spindly little guys because you see the picture of them You know falling like dead men and so they must have been kind of Barney five types, you know They you know kind of a fumble here from my gun and I find my bullet and and you know kind of that Not sure what I'm doing not at all don't get that picture out of your mind when you think of the Roman soldiers There was a historian in Israel in the first century called Josephus and Josephus writes four volumes of history about the first century Jews I've got that set in in my library and it's Fascinating history of the first century Jewish world and he writes one of those books the wars of the Jews This is what he says about Roman soldiers He says every soldier is every day exercise and that with great diligence as if it were in time of war I mean even soldiers who are not on the battlefield like the ones in Jerusalem They are drilled every day Exercise every day to stay fit to stay in shape He says which is the reason they bear the fatigue of battles so easily now listen to these next words for neither can any Disorder remove them from their usual regularity meaning the discipline of their duty Nor can fear a fright them out of it Nor can labor tire them Of these are hard guys These are fit guys These are guys that are disciplined drilled These these are guys that Know what they're doing and nothing is gonna deter them from their duty nothing can Caused them fear I mean these are battle hardened soldiers They've heard the clanking of swords in battle They have seen spears come their way They have seen arrows take out their comrades They have heard the bustle of feet and boots along the ground in battle. They have heard the streaks These are hardened men. These are battle-tested men They're not Barney fights They're battle-tested men hard men These are the men that are sent to guard the tomb and if anybody tries they're up to the challenge You can imagine though a night watch like this when the minutes crawl by Inactivity silence nothing happening that kind of dulls the senses it would be easy to just drift off to sleep But just in case that were to happen the Roman soldiers also knew That any failure to carry out their duty particularly a duty of watch Was met with a capital offense it was a capital crime You could you could be killed as a Roman soldier for falling asleep on your watch and So I want you to understand these guys are up to the task They're not just kind of law and around like Hollywood actors who play the part of Roman soldiers This is the real thing these are the real guys and they're up to it. They're ready for whatever might happen They're tough guys So those are the ones who are there at the guard that improbable task is manned by hearty Roman soldiers Are they gonna stay awake? Are they gonna do their duty you bet they are? But something's gonna happen to them this night That will not only get their complete attention, but will bring them to their knees Because men who were assigned an improbable task suddenly unexpectedly Experience an incredible terror This incredible terror that they experience is described for us in the first four verses of chapter 28 After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week So after Saturday is ended at dawn the next day Sunday Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb You may recall the other gospel's kind of fill in the details They had been preparing spices and ointments to prepare the body for burial That was done in the ancient world because there was no embalming process and decomposition said in very quickly And so that at least for a few days you could come to the graveside and pay your respects They they covered the body with different kinds of spices and rubbed the body with different kinds of ointments To help the smell basically was the purpose of that now they had started preparing this on Friday evening But Jesus died at three o'clock and Sabbath begins at six on Friday evening They didn't have time to finish and so the gospels tell us that they finished up their preparation on Saturday evening after the Sabbath is done at six on Saturday They finished that then they said okay early early the next morning early Sunday morning first chance will have to get out to the tomb So they're coming there just as you saw in the in the video They're coming with spices with ointments to really finish up the the preparation of the body for burial in this tomb Look at what happens though verse two Verse two describes the actions of the angel that comes There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb Roll back the stone and sat on it now these soldiers are going to see something they have never ever seen in battle And again, you know, I love Barney 5 One of the favorite movies I've ever seen of his is the ghost and mr. chicken Okay, and I think of mr. Chicken when I think of Barney 5 well these guys are not chicken But they're going to see something they have never seen before They're going to see an angel something that will Paralyze them with fear The actions of this angel are described as we saw in verse two first of all there was a violent earthquake The earth shook I believe given the sequence of events here as the angel made or touched the earth Visible and felt Presence of this angel announces itself in earthquake and the earth shakes at the coming of the angel For an angel the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb that leads me to believe the angel Landed. I don't know how else to say it. I don't know how he was coming down Maybe you know like like uh You know Jesus went up slowly maybe this angel came down slowly and he's descending and he touches the earth he lands Somewhere away from the tomb because he has to walk over to the tomb how far away he was we don't know But he walks toward the tomb. He touches down and starts walking toward the tomb And I imagined that at that point at least possibly if the soldiers Still had the ability to speak they would have tried to stop him. Hope who goes there? Who are you And and and the angel just keeps coming And then notice what he does next he rolled back the stone A stone that would take several strong men to dislodge from that cavity in front of the tomb and then move on to the side He just moves it I would love to have seen how he did it Did he just kind of elbow it out of the way did he just flip it with one finger? Did he? Have to use any muscle. I don't know but he moved it by himself and then I love what happened next he sat on it I Don't tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor He sends an angel down and the angel is assigned basically To move the stone so that the disciples can get in and see that Jesus is not there But he's also assigned to give the announcement of the resurrection for the women who come well the women aren't there yet Then shown up yet. So he's kind of wait for him Okay, they're not here yet. I got to wait for him. Well, let's just sit here sit up on the stone Wonder if he was just twiddling these thumbs or spraiting these garments. I mean When I think of an angel I think of a century duty, you know Standing at the side of the tomb in all of his austerity and and splendor. Here's a guy angel just Sitting on the rock Sitting on the stone just waiting around for the ladies to show up You know, he kind of reminds me of the angel that he must have been clearance in its wonderful life You know, he kind of reminds me of that kind of angel I don't I'm not being disrespectful of angels, but I just find this so I'm enamored by the the humor in this that He moved the stone and just sits there on the stone waiting for the women to show up That's the actions of the angel Notice the appearance of the angel described in verse three his appearance was like lightning and his clothes Were quite as snow Now think about that for a moment when I was studying this earlier this week and reviewing it yesterday on the plane I was thinking was thinking about what this would have looked like try to imagine it His appearance was like lightning now think about when you see lightning in the sky And it's so brilliant it's shocking Literally, but figuratively as well It's just just amazing to watch lightning and it's a dazzling display of brightness it lights up the sky And if you see lightning that kind of dances around in the clouds and just lights up the whole sky It's one of the most fascinating things to watch isn't it? It's intriguing. It's it's almost paralyzing to watch it and just be amazed by but it's here and it's gone instantaneously Now try to imagine a person walking toward you that looks like a flash of lightning But it's not here and gone. It's the brilliance of that lightning just continues to come from this person And his clothes are as white as snow You know what that looks like Understanding got a little bit of snow this week then yeah, white as snow Amazing sight to see And that leads to the astonishment of the soldiers In verse four the guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. They were so terrified They couldn't fight They couldn't move They couldn't speak If they did give some kind of warning as the angel first landed all of that thought is gone now as he's Comfortantly striding toward the tomb with this dazzling display of lightning like Light shining from him And they're Paralyzed with fear again. I remind you these are hardened battle-worn men drilled every day disciplined And they're like dead men. They've never seen anything like this Did they faint or were they just paralyzed? I I tend to think they were just paralyzed They were able to observe what was happening but unable to do anything about it just like dead men But they told the story of what happened when when they went back to the chief priest I think they saw what was going on They may have even seen him move the stone And sit on it and then at some point in the story they take off they're able to move again They split the scene they get out of there Paralyzed with fear The astonishment of the soldiers That's when the angel makes an announcement notice the announcement of the angel the women have shown up Versed five the angel said to the women do not be afraid For I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified put yourself in the place of those women I mean they come up on a scene similar what the soldiers have seen they come around the corner and they see this light Kind of wondering what it is and all of a sudden they see this brilliant shining Image of this person sitting on the stone. I'm confident. They were ready to drop the spices and run And so the angel speaks to them. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid And then the words he says next indicates to them that he must be a messenger from God So they really have no reason to fear Because he says I know why you're here. I know that you're looking for Jesus. By the way. I know he was crucified So he's giving information that's drawing them in causing them realize he knows the story He must be an angel he must be a representative from God Her six and here's the announcement that we love on Easter He is not here for he is risen Just as he said Come see the place where he lay And I just imagine with this announcement then he kind of points to the tomb He's already jumped down off the stone. I think and kind of points to the tomb says come on see where he come on here see where he lay and They go in and they see the empty tomb And they see that the gray clothes Folded and even the napkin John's gospel tells us the napkin that would be placed over Jesus face is neatly folded That ought to tell us something when Jesus got out of bed. He made the bed He folded things up nice. He left it like it should be even on resurrection morning He put things like they were supposed to be So they they go in and they see all of that and then the angel says then go quickly and tell us disciples He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee there. You will see him We sometimes just kind of read through this so quick I think we lose the effect. I think probably the angel stopped right there And the ladies are still standing around their mouths open just trying to take all this in wrap their minds around what they've seen what they're hearing And he basically says now I told you in other words get on out of here. Come on get out The other things got to happen here today. Go on and now told you go on I just love this thing How powerful By the way Some of you here this morning are like the soldiers and some of you are like the women If you've never committed your life to Jesus Christ as your Savior you have a lot to fear from the resurrection Easter should not be a happy day for you If you don't know Jesus you have a lot to fear Because the resurrection basically seals your doom You're trying to get the heaven some other way than the one God has put his approval on and the resurrection was the approval of God the Father on the work that Jesus did on the cross What God was saying was I am satisfied with the work of my son That is the way mankind will be saved That's the way people will come to know me and enter into my presence in heaven You try any other way you don't have God's seal of approval The resurrection was basically according to Romans 425 We're saved by his death were justified because of his resurrection We're declared righteous because of the resurrection. It's because of the resurrection that the whole story is true That the whole thing is right and it's God's seal of approval on what Christ did So if you've never trusted Christ If you're trying to get the heaven because you're a pretty decent person I mean you're a pretty good neighbor you help people out around your neighborhood And you're pretty easy to live with you try to provide for your family You do your work as best you can you're a pretty decent person and you figure you know those are the kind of people are going to be in heaven I hear it all the time At at funeral home visitations I think sometimes even by well-meaning Christians who don't understand what they're saying They're saying if it boy I tell you if anyone gets to have in that person well that was a good person No body gets to heaven by being a good person my friend Jesus Christ himself said I am the way the truth and the life you remember what he said next No man come with under the father but by me. It's not by church. It's not by your good life. It's not by your baptism It's not by how you live. It's by Christ and the resurrection says that's true and that's the only way So if you've never trusted Christ you've got a lot of fear a lot to fear out of the resurrection because it dooms What you're trying to do to get to heaven But some of you are like the women You don't have anything to fear Because for you the resurrection is confirmation That Jesus really is who he said he was and that what he said about himself about his work about his death on the cross About how to reach eternal life All of that is true The resurrection proves it So the resurrection is your greatest assurance and comfort That your eternal destiny is settled and you can believe what Jesus said you can believe what God's word says You like the women can listen to the angels say don't be afraid Don't be afraid Men who were assigned an improbable improbable task Who witnessed an incredible terror Then turn next to something that is very interesting to me in the story And that is an incriminating testimony They will first of all with their testimony of what's happened they will incriminate themselves Let's read the verses verses 11 through 15 Why this is an incriminating testimony verse 11 While the women were on their way the women were going back to tell the disciples about the resurrection While the women were on their way Some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that it happened Now don't just slide by that some of the guards maybe two out of the four maybe three what happened to the other guys What did they do? I wonder about things like that Well where did they go? Did they take off run and find the nearest You know company commander they could and said I wanted to sign that in Germany get me out of here I don't know what they did but a couple of them at least went to Went to the chief priests and Notice they told them everything that had happened in other words. They told them the truth They told them about standing guard and all of a sudden Seeing something coming down from heaven. Oh, it's someone it's a person the ground shaking this person is bright as lightning They explained the truth they told what had happened Verse 12 when the chief priests had met with the elders Oh boy did this ever put them in a panic Did chief priest here this story? Oh, man. We got we got to fix this situation And so they call the elders evidently the Sanhedrin the religious leaders And they devised a plan the Bible says they gave the soldiers a large sum of money Telling them you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep If this report gets to the governor we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble Remember I told you it was a capital offense To go to sleep on night duty and to let something be done to let the barrier be penetrated that is supposed to be guarded So these soldiers are not going to tell this story easily First of all, you got to pay him a bunch of money The payoff was huge enormous amount of money to satisfy these guys and get them to tell this story And then they had to be assured their backs recovered You know that nobody's going to come back and court martial them because of laying down on the job If we're going to tell this story somebody's going to have to satisfy pilot in our command or in everybody else We're not going to get in trouble and so the chief priest say we'll take care of that. We got you covered We'll keep you out of trouble Verse 15 so the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed and this story has been widely circulated Among the Jews to this very day But you know what the story is full of holes if you were a prosecuting attorney this story wouldn't last five minutes in court It's got all kinds of problems First of all if they were asleep how did they know that the disciples came and stole the body if they were asleep It the story doesn't hold up Secondly If one of them was awake But the other three were asleep the one who was on duty for that watch was why didn't he wake up his comrades and they jump into action If they try to explain it that way that didn't make any sense either Thirdly does anybody really believe that Disciples who are cowering in fear in an upper room hiding from the Jewish authorities are suddenly going to get bold and make their presence known and go out and try to steal the body Does anybody really believe they would do that? Of course not And fourthly if they did If this story were true Why didn't the Jewish authorities prosecute the disciples They arrested Jesus put into death Don't you think they would want if they had one shred of evidence Certainly they would have arrested all 11 disciples I mean before long it's they're gonna come out they're gonna come out in the open and start testifying in Jerusalem If there was one shred of evidence that they had stolen body of Jesus they could have easily been arrested and put on trial But nobody ever tried that The story really does not hold up under any examination But a gullible naive public would believe it The soldiers were paid huge sums of money to tell it And so verse 15 says that's the story that's been widely circulated But didn't make any sense doesn't hold up under any kind of scrutiny They incriminated themselves But secondly they also incriminated the priests You see the priests are the one who come up with this story They're the ones that are really taking the blame in a sense They're the ones that we've got to cover everything up They're the ones that we've got to make everything right with pilot They're the ones that we've got to fork out all this money But you know what happens? I find a very interesting statement in the book of Acts chapter 6 You're reading through the book of Acts and the disciples are bold and they're witnessing and testifying and preaching The gospel and all of a sudden this pops up in the book of Acts chapter 6 verse 7 So the word of God spread the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith Now just stop there for a moment How did that happen? A large number of priests come to Christ as Savior think about that You're talking about people who are turning their back on everything they believed Everything they've been trained and taught They're throwing away their jobs. Are they going to go back to the temple and be priests again? Of course not They're throwing away their livelihood. They're throwing away their future They're probably risking the loss of their family And their status in society Listen in real terms these priests gave up everything to come to Christ what Would make them do that? I think God was stringing together a whole series of events That caused these priests eventually to say I can't take it any longer. I believe he is who he said he was I believe he was the Messiah I believe is the Savior and they came to faith. I think it started on Friday afternoon At three o'clock Do you remember what happened when Jesus died? The gospels tell us that the veil in the temple was torn into from the top to the bottom That's not like the priests took a pair of shears and started on the bottom and then ripped it apart To show it was something that was happening by God supernatural The veil which is a strong thick heavy curtain that separates the holy place Where only the priests can go from the holy of holies where only the high priest can go once a year that thick curtain Rips from top to bottom at the very moment Jesus dies Can you imagine that story going around the priests? The guys who were on duty that day Telling that story can you imagine other priests walking in or being called in or rushing in? Hey, you gotta see this look what happened And they see it lying in a heap on the floor And the holy of holies is exposed The place where no jews even see or go only the high priest once a year every priest knew exactly what that curtain represented They knew that it represented a barrier between God and man And that man cannot approach God and at the very moment Jesus dies the one who says no man come with unto the father But by me the very moment he dies that barrier's split wide open Boy that had to get those priests thinking it had to get them scratching their heads. What's going on here? And then two days later they hear the story This incredible story from these guards about an angel of light and rolling away the stone we were paralyzed we couldn't do a thing They knew what they heard and they concocted a story that devised a plan the Bible says that but they knew the truth They knew what they had heard And so they're beginning to piece all this together And then you get into the book of Acts and they witness the boldness of the apostles men who are willing to give their lives They try to shut them up and they can't they arrest them and an angel comes in Acts chapter 5 and lets them out of prison So by the time you get to chapter 6 there a bunch of priests are saying man. This is more. I can handle And they're quits scratching their head. They've given their hearts to the Lord It brings me to the soldiers Wonder what happened to them There's been a novel written about the soldier who gambled in one the robe of Christ Do you ever read it by Lou Wallace the robe? Maybe you've seen the movie Somebody ought to write a book and make a movie on these four soldiers. What happened to them? The ones who knew the story knew what happened on Easter Sunday morning. What happened to them? We may never know what we won't know until we get to heaven. Then you of them did the same thing priests had done came to Christ But that's not that's not really what I'm interested in that brings me to you What about you Maybe you're at a point in your life where you're kind of scratching your head trying to figure out what in the world is going on You've been hesitant to believe the gospel You've been resistant to the gospel story that Jesus Christ died for your sins and that's the only way you'll get to heaven You've been resistant to that or maybe you've been deceived into thinking you're okay Because of how good a person you are or because you've been in search all your life or because you got baptized when you were a kid And you're thinking you're okay But God recently has been stringing together a series of events in your life. Got you shaking your head scratching your head wondering what is going on It may be a crisis in your life With your family with your finances with your job with your health And it may be that a crisis has come into your life that is just stunned you You don't know where to turn or what to do And maybe on top of that Someone has been witnessing to you and telling you about Jesus or has demonstrated the love of Christ to you And you can't get rid of that conviction in your heart. You know something's real there It put your finger on it yet, but you know something's real Or maybe you've just entered a new phase of your life where everything is changing And it's not like it used to be and You're questioning everything you've believed and so you're ready to entertain This might be true Might be true or maybe for you. It's just a nagging First in your soul a nagging emptiness deep down inside Because you've lived long enough to have relationships You thought those will satisfy you And you got the job you always wanted Thought that would satisfy you You finally got that house that you wanted Thought that would satisfy You finally got the career the position in life you finally made it to where you wanted to be all along And you thought those things would just kind of help you be Easy about life and but there's still that knowing emptiness inside There's still that that thirst in your soul There's still something inside that that's got a grip on you and you can't figure out how to satisfy that And you're asking questions you're wondering about everything And so my friend if you're here like that this morning Maybe this is your day Like the priests Maybe like those soldiers Maybe this is the day That their testimony becomes real to you That you understand what happened on that Easter Sunday morning Maybe this is the day Today you've heard the story You've heard the story of Jesus' death of his burial of his resurrection Today you need to give up your resistance Today You need to get saved You need to commit your life to Christ So that you can have your sin forgiven You can know that you're going to heaven when you die Today is the day It is the day For someone here today today is the day Where you need to give up your objections and just like the priests say I'm done. I can't fight this any longer I know this is the truth and I must embrace it in faith Today is the day Will you trust Christ Today Let's pray Father What a glorious scene what a glorious truth what a glorious day The resurrection day is Father, I thank you that we have a living Savior who by his very resurrection proves The truth of your word the truth of what he said Father, I pray That people who are here today like those soldiers or maybe like the priests they told the story to Who are grappling with serious questions, but you've been working in their lives And they're ready today To embrace Christ as their Savior. I pray Lord by your spirit that you would be at work in their hearts Break down any barriers Help them to come to your son today As their Savior We pray in Jesus name Amen