March 23, 2008

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 Scripture KJV

Reverend David S. Huffer

Westwood Baptist Church - 2124 Davis Road
 Waynesboro, VA

SONrise Service

Mark

16:1    And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
16:2    And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
16:3    And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
16:4    And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
16:5    And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
16:6    And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

 

Tombs and Stones

SONrise Service 2008

Mark 16:1-6

 

In the still of a Sunday morning

A grave stands open wide

And a promise kept

While the world slept

Means that no one is inside

(Bob Bennett)

 

Today in this Easter season we are called upon to think of Tombs and Stones.

·         They make us think about death and hopefully life

 

STONE COVERED TOMBS – 16:3

As the women made their way to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, the question arose:

·         “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”

DEAR FRIENDS – The stone was a barrier.

·         It was going to keep them from doing what they wanted to do

·         The stone was used to keep out – not to keep in!

 

Stones are still covering tombs today:

  1. Hardened hearts
  2. Un-confessed sin
  3. Indifference
  4. Bitterness
  5. Hatred
  6. Complacency

 

These are self-imposed stones that cover the tombs of our lives and act as barriers that keep God out!

·         They keep God from doing want He wants to do in each of our lives.

 

TOMBS FOR THE DEAD

Tombs are for dead people.

·         The women came to ANNOINT the DEAD body of Jesus.

Tombs contain that which is dead – not living.

Romans 3:13-18 – “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God in their eyes.”

·         In showing humanity’s total depravity, Paul quotes passages in the Psalms that describe the evil that can come from the throat, tongue, lips, mouth, feet, and eyes.

·         The heart is compared to a tomb – for buried in it is the seed of death

·         The throat reveals the corruption inside – the spiritual decay

·         The lips are like fangs of the asp – the asp was a mid-eastern snake thought to be the Egyptian cobra whose venom was contained in a bag under its lips

·         Humans apart from God are not blessing each other – they are often cursing them

·         They are not loving – but often bitter

·         People apart from God are prone to violence

·         They murder and kill because they have no respect for the life of another.

DEAR FRIEND – Fear of God – is an O.T. expression for respect or reverence for God.

·         Because people without God are spiritually dead – they produce only deceit, damage, and destuction

Matthew 23:27-28 – “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

V.27 -  Here again we see a similar condemnation

·         The professional religionists in the scribes and Pharisees cleaned up the outside so as to be seen by men

·         However – they were internally revolting

V. 28 – The term “whitened sepulchers” basically means whitewashing the graves

·         On the 15th day of the month of Adair, before the Passover each year, the Jews would whitewash all the places where graves were situated

·         This was done both to beautify them and to mark the place lest any one passing over them would occasion Levitical defilement.

DEAR FRIEND – The point here being that sin, if we are not careful, will consume us.

·         It will make us a s a tomb full of deadness and rottenness

 

ROLLING AWAY THE STONE – 16:4

As the women approached the tomb, they discovered to their amazement the stone had been rolled away.

QUESTION – How did the stone get rolled away?

ANSWER – God did it!

Matthew 28:2 – “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.”

V.2 – And behold there was a great earthquake

·         This was no minor tremor

·         Even as an earthquake marked the crucifixion of our Lord, likewise, a “great earthquake” marked His resurrection

 

DEAR FRIEND – Indeed, in the course of history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was an earth-shaking event.

V.2 – For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door.

·         One angel did what it took an entire watch of Romans soldiers to do

·         The stone was not rolled away for Jesus to get out – it was rolled away for the first witness to see in!

Notice what the angel does: The angel thence “sat on the stone”

·         The angel sitting upon the stone conveyed a clear, though unspoken, message of divine supremacy.

·         He did what he had been sent to do, sat down, relaxed, and watched the proceedings

DEAR FRIEND – There is an air of victory as well as contempt for the enemies of the risen Christ.

 

EMPTY TOMBS AND RISEN LIVES – 16:5-6

The women encountered not a tomb of the dead – but an empty tomb that speaks of life!

·         Jesus was not dead, but alive!

·         And He wants to breathe life into the tombs of our lives!

Romans 6:4 – “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Romans 6:10-11 – “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

CLOSE

The tomb of Christ is empty!

·         He is alive!

·         And he wants to empty the tombs of your lives and leave them empty that we might have life in Him.

 

AMEN!

 

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