Living Beyond Fear (Easter Sunday)

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Living Beyond Fear on Easter Sunday. He will be reading out of Matthew 28:1-15.

If you’re looking to the world for your answers, you’re only going to find that it’s insufficient and unable to solve your problems. But when you look to the Lord Jesus Christ, just as He said, He will fulfill every promise in your life if you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome and Happy Easter. This is the Sunday that we celebrate Easter, and really Easter for believers is every Sunday because we’re celebrating the resurrection of Christ. But we’re glad you’re with us today and we appreciate you being a part of this radio program.

Hope worth having. We hope that you’ll be encouraged, challenged in your faith, and you’ll continue to draw closer to Christ. Today on this special Easter program, we want to turn to Matthew chapter 28.

We’re going to be looking at verses 1 through 15. So join me as we study the Word of God together. So here we are this morning in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28. On this Easter, we uphold the reality of the bodily resurrection of Christ from a Jerusalem grave.

It is only the resurrection of Christ that gives us a foundation for morality and spirituality. The resurrection is the foundation of our Christian faith. The resurrection of Christ is the climax of the Gospel story.

The Bible says that if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. If Jesus is dead, then I want you to know that there isn’t a one of us in this room and those who are watching online.

There isn’t a one of us that has any hope, but I assure you today that Jesus Christ is alive, that he is risen from the grave, and he is ascended to the Father at the right hand of God, and He is coming back soon to bring us out of this crazy world, and then He’s coming back to establish His kingdom on this earth, and will rule and reign with Him forever.

But I want you to know that the good news of Easter Sunday is that because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that each and every one of us can live beyond fear. In our passage today in Matthew chapter 28, we find the phrase used twice, do not be afraid.

I want you to pick up with me in verse one, and I want you to note what this story is narrated as, the resurrection of Christ. The Bible says, now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

and behold there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow and the guard shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

But the angel answered and said to the woman, do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified. He is not here for he is risen. As he said, come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into Galilee.

There you will see him. Behold I have told you so that they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold Jesus met them saying rejoice.

So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me. Now while they were going behold some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened and when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers saying tell them his disciples came at night and stole them away while we slept and if this comes to the governor’s ears we will appease him and make sure you are secure.

So they took the money and did as they were instructed and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. The Bible teaches us that we are able to live beyond fear. fear, and we can live without fear for several reasons.

Number one, because the Savior is alive. Because Jesus has conquered death, Christ arose at dawn through the sealed stone, and the angel descended from heaven at the rising of the sun. When the women approached the sepulcher, the angel rolled back the stone to show them that Christ was risen, and therefore they were shocked, they were amazed that Jesus Christ had risen, and that He was alive, and I assure you that Jesus is alive today,

that He has risen, and He is one day coming back. What we have to consider this morning is what does Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and Karl Marx all have in common? If signs marked grave sites, each one of those religious leaders, their grave site would read, occupy.

Only Christ’s grave has a vacant sign. The empty tomb is an authentication of His resurrection. We have been to Israel, my friends. We have looked at the tomb, and we can declare with you from our own eyes that Jesus Christ is not dead.

He is alive, and the tomb is empty. Our leader is not behind us. He is before us. Jesus Christ is not calling us to the past of fear and failure. He is not calling us to dredge up the past and the old wounds and hurts and pains that we have in our life, but rather He is calling us forward.

He is calling us to a life of healing, a life of courage, a life of strength. He is calling us to a life that is honoring and glorifying to Him. We do not have to live in fear because our Savior lives today.

We can live without fear, not only because the Savior lives, but because our sins can be forgiven. Would you note again in verse 5, the Scripture says that the angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified.

Jesus was crucified for our sins. He was crucified that we might be reconciled to God, that we might be connected to God. Let’s understand this, that each and every one of us are born into this world as sinners.

We come into this world selfish. We come into this world as sinful human beings, passed on to us from the very lineage of Adam. Jesus Christ went to the cross to pay for the penalty of our sin so that we could be be connected with God Almighty, that our sins could be forgiven and that our sins could be washed away.

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, that I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. When Jesus Christ rose again, not only was the stone rolled away, but I assure you my friends, for all who believe in Christ, their sin is rolled away.

Before Christ’s death and resurrection, the condition of sinful people was deplorable. Iniquities weighed them down. There was no remission of guilt. Every sinful act plunged individuals deeper into the mire of guilt.

People could not shake off the burden of the past and begin a new life. The past with all of its horrors lay upon each person like a slab of the tomb. But now, through Jesus Christ’s resurrection, through Jesus Christ dying on the cross, being crucified for our sins, each and every one of us that believe in Christ can have our sins rolled away.

The prophets said, by the blood of the covenant, I have sent forth the prisoners out of the pit. What is literally teaching us is that through the shedding of the blood of Christ and that He died on the cross for our sins, that God has brought us out of the pit.

We were prisoners in bondage and we were in the pit of sin, but Christ has set us free through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has pulled us out of the miry clay and He has put our feet on a solid rock and that is why we stand here today celebrating the crucifixion and the resurrection of our Savior because He has rolled away each and every one of our sins who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We can live without fear because the Savior is alive. We can live without fear because our sins can be forgiven. We can live without fear because the Scriptures can be trusted. I call your attention back to verse 6 and you will note that the angel said to the women, he is not here for he is risen as he said.

I want you to hone in and note that phrase as he said, just as he said, Jesus Christ proclaimed in His ministry on this earth that He would eventually die on a cross. He proclaimed and prophesied to His disciples and all that would listen that He would not only die on a cross but He would on the third day rise again.

Well some way the disciples did not fully grasp all that Christ was teaching them. Even in one moment Peter stood up and said that it’s not going to happen, Lord. And Jesus said to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan.

Knowing and understanding the sovereign work of God, that he would bring redemption to all who believe in him through the crucifixion of Christ, through the sacrifice of his own life for each one of our sins so that we might by faith in Christ have eternal life in Jesus Christ, Jesus understood that the disciples did not comprehend the full totality of the sovereign work of God and what he was doing.

Even though he proclaimed it, they did not fully grasp it. But when we read the gospel accounts, we see that consistently each one of the gospels speaks of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. That he would not only resurrect, but he would manifest himself.

He would manifest himself to his followers. The scriptures can be trusted. What I want you to note today is Jesus always keeps his word, just as he said. His promises are real and certain. His words are true and we can count on him and he will do exactly what he says.

As you are walking the journey of life, you may find yourself in different struggles and valleys and dips and even in a pit. But I assure you that if you look to the Lord Jesus Christ, though the mountains be removed, God is our refuge and the earth is shaken.

God is our refuge and God promises that he will never leave us nor forsake us and we can always look to the Savior because he never breaks his promises. You may be shaken by all that is happening in this world.

It’s a messed up world and what I’ve learned is that governments and mankind and scientists and all the people of the world cannot fix this world because the only answer to the problems of this world can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that if everyone would look to Jesus Christ, surrender their life and believe on him, they could not only have eternal life, but he would bring peace and joy into each of their hearts and he would lead us through his spirit to love one another and to be kind to one another and to make a difference for the glory of God.

If you’re looking to the world for your answers, you’re only going to find that it’s insufficient and unable to solve your problems. But when you look to the Lord Jesus Christ, just as he said, he will fulfill every promise in your life if you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ has proclaimed his truth to us. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes unto the Father but by me. There is only one way to heaven. There are not many roads that lead to heaven.

One way to come to God almighty, and that is through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot get to heaven through religion. You cannot get to heaven by keeping a list of dos and don’ts.

You cannot get to heaven by helping your fellow man, not against of any of those things, but I assure you that they do not bring salvation because only by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ can you have your sins forgiven and can you have new life in your heart and be granted eternal life.

For the Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting what church? Life. Jesus Christ, he offers us this Easter, eternal life.

The scriptures can be trusted in what God has said. I want you to know you can bank on it. It is solid. Now we’ve talked about why we can live without fear. Let’s talk about how do we live without fear.

Many of us are subconsciously dominated by fear in our hearts. We’re dominated by worry and anxiety. And according to the current stats, anxiety disorders are the number one mental health problem in the United States.

One study showed that the odds of developing anxiety disorders have doubled in the past four decades. So what is the answer in a world that is so anxious, in a world that is so gripped by fear, in a world that is struggling with confidence and the assurance of their purpose and their significance in life?

What is the answer? Well, I want you to see in this text that God gives us three things to help us, that we can live beyond fear no matter what is going on in our world. Number one is to come and see.

Look at verse 6. The Bible says, the angel again said, he is not here for he is risen. As he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. This is an invitation for each of us this morning to examine the claims of the resurrection of the Lord.

There may be those who are skeptical and maybe even question or doubt whether this resurrection thing is real. These believers get up and they proclaim that Christ is resurrected. We read in our story how the chief priests, the religious leaders gathered with the soldiers and once they heard the story of the resurrection of Christ, and once they heard the story of how these soldiers became as dead men before the appearance of the angel,

that they, rather than being submissive and responsive to the gospel and the hope of the resurrection of Christ, the Bible tells us that they devised a plan to send out a lie to all the world that somehow the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus.

Come and see, join me, when we study the Gospels, when we study even history itself, we know that the tomb where Jesus was laid was sealed by a mammoth stone. It was not just that the stone was large and that it would be very difficult for one or two people to even move this stone, but the fact that the Bible teaches us that it was sealed, that the disciples might come and try to steal the body, that they were gonna make sure that it was impossible for them to do that.

Second of all, as we consider and come and see and see the evidence of a resurrected savior, I want you to note these soldiers were putting their very life on the line. For if they failed and they allowed the body to be stolen, the Roman government required that they give their very life.

These soldiers were terrified when they went to the chief priest and the religious leaders because they saw that their life was at stake. They would never allow in any way, unless it was a miraculous way, they would never allow a few disciples to come up there and to steal the body of Christ, because they’re not going to put their life on the line for someone that they don’t even believe in.

But yet, my friends, the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ rose again. He didn’t even need the stone to roll away, but why did the angel roll the stone away? So that the people, the women, the other’s disciples could come and see the evidence that Jesus Christ was risen, that Jesus Christ was alive.

Come and see. Join me as we look at the evidence. The Bible tells us that Jesus, as the apostle said in 1 Corinthians 15, that he appeared to the disciples. He appeared to the 12, which is referring to the apostles, and that he appeared to over 500 people.

They all gave testimony, even up to the present writing of the time of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. They gave testimony to the fact that they had witnessed, that they had seen the resurrected law. The Bible tells us, let every word be established by two or three witnesses.

I say to you that this is the way God works, not only in our life, but it always, as he is trying to demonstrate his power, the Bible teaches us that the psalmist said, my cup runneth over. And I could say, as the psalmist said, the evidence of Christ’s resurrection is running over.

The evidence is clear that Jesus Christ truly is resurrected. Scientists, lawyers, journalists, people of great intellect, kings and queens, presidents and people of great leadership responsibility. have sought to know is this true that Jesus Christ is resurrected.

All have been able to come to the conclusion He truly is the resurrected Savior. Many who have tried to discredit the resurrection of Christ have only come to believe in the resurrection of Christ. Time and time again my friends I want you to see Jesus Christ has verified and authenticated that He truly is the risen Savior.

Come and see. God is not asking you to believe something that is a fairy tale. God is not asking you to jump out into darkness and believe and hope that this all works out but rather God is telling you this is the evidence that my son who I sent to this world to die for the sins of mankind and he would rise again on the floor.

third day and that he would die for our past and he would wash away our sins if we believe in him and that through his resurrection he would give us eternal life to be with him forever. Come and see and join me.

It’s like C .S. Lewis said that great philosopher and thinker who became a devoted follower of Christ later in his life after looking at all the evidence of the resurrection of Christ. He said really we only have three options when it comes to our analysis of Christ.

That he is either a liar, a lunatic, meaning a crazy man, or he is truly the Lord. Consider this. Some of you might propose to me that Jesus Christ was a good prophet, that he was a good teacher. I tell you would a good teacher proclaim to be God?

That’s exactly what Jesus did. If I stood before you and proclaimed to be God, I’m telling you that most of you would say the pastor has lost it. He finally has drank too much Mountain Dew and it has sent him over the edge.

Jesus stood before crowds and said, I and the father are one. Jesus declared that he and the father are one was not just in nature but in equality of authority and deity. The Jewish people became so angry and declared that it was blasphemous.

They didn’t declare that it was blasphemous what he said because they didn’t understand what he said but because they understood everything that he said. There was no darkness and there was no mystery to what Jesus was declaring that he was sent from the father and that he was equal with the father, that he was God himself.

And so either Jesus is a liar or he is a crazy person or he truly is God. He truly is the Lord. You can’t pick any other option. To try to find a different option is only to deny what is real before you.

I want you to know that the more you learn, the more you understand the evidence, you will come to the conclusion as the angel said to the women, he is not here for he is risen. And it is that one statement that changed everything forever.

His death on the cross paid the price for my sin, but his resurrection from the dead has provided eternal life for me and all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the story ended right there with Jesus dying on the cross, this would be a sad story for me to tell you.

There would be no reason for us to celebrate Easter. There would be no need for us to gather together as a church, worshipping and celebrating and rejoicing that our Savior is alive because He would be dead.

There would be no salvation. There would be no hope if Jesus Christ died. And that was the end. It would be the end of us as well. But thank God, the story doesn’t end there. And that on that third day, Jesus did come forth alive from the tomb.

I submit unto you, how can you live beyond fear? Come and see. But second of all, believe. Go back to our text and look at verse 8 and notice again what the Bible says. They went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring His disciples word.

And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice. So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. I want you to note that these people believe. They recognize as they were able to tangibly see and tangibly feel the resurrected Savior, that there was faith that was rising up in their heart and because He lives, there is hope and faith for each and every one of us.

Because Jesus lives, there is salvation from your sin. There is forgiveness of your sin. There is grace for you to live each and every day. There is strength to face whatever calms your way. The Scripture says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation.

All things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. This is the power of a resurrected Savior living in you, living through you and living around you. This is the power that we rejoice in.

sin. This is the power that enables us to be all that God wants us to be. A dead Savior can save no one. When Jesus died on the cross, His death forever satisfied the demands of a holy God concerning sin.

When Jesus died on the cross, He declared, it is finished. And He meant that. And what He meant specifically is that God had been satisfied for the punishment of sin and that that punishment had been paid forever.

And that anyone who trusts and believes in Jesus Christ can have the application of this forgiveness to their own hearts and to their own spirit and to their own lives. They could have their sins forgiven.

However, a dead Savior cannot give you eternal life. You might be forgiven, but you would die subject to the power of sin and death. When Jesus rose from the dead, he conquered death and he gave those who believe in him the promise of eternal life.

Now hang on to this. Jesus said in the Gospel of John chapter 11 verse 25 through 26, I am the resurrection and the life. Now he had not yet died, but he was helping them to understand that as he showed up to Lazarus’ funeral, meaning that four days after the funeral, he showed up.

The family was still weeping. The family was still grieving. The family was still devastated. They were kind of disappointed in Jesus because they kind of felt like he showed up late. Jesus steps onto the scene and he begins to declare, I am the resurrection.

I am the resurrection and the life. And literally he is telling them that he is the personification of the resurrection and life, that he is the very embodiment of the resurrection and life. And he who believes in me, though he may die physically, he shall live spiritually.

And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And he leaves them with this question, do you believe this? How do you overcome fear, not living in the fear of death, not always worried about whether you’re going to die or not, but you overcome fear by believing in the one who has conquered death.

The Apostle Paul said to live is Christ and to die is gain. Most of us look at death as a negative in our life, but for the believer and the follower of Christ, when we die to live is Christ. We live our lives for him, but when we die, are promoted to heaven, we gain so much from this world.

We leave this world of selfishness behind and sorrow behind and struggles behind and we enter into the glories of heaven and we gain the rewards and the blessings and the benefits for our faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

How is it that the child of God could be promoted to heaven? How is it that the people of God could be transferred from this mortal world into an immortal world? It is because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the Lord Jesus Christ. Living beyond fear, God has called us not to be a people of fear but a people of faith and truly God is calling us to live out our faith daily and letting our faith conquer any fears we may have in our heart.

And so I hope when we think about the resurrection message and our Savior living today, that it will inspire us to be people of great faith and not to be caught up in the fear of the world or the fear of people, but rather living by faith each day.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.