Text: Matthew 28:1-10
Introduction:
    A. On the first day of the week, 2,000 years ago, a group of faithful women visited a tomb that held, as they had
         believed, the cold and breathless body of their beloved Leader, Teacher, and Friend.
    B. They went to the tomb that morning in the same frame of mind with which we go to cemeteries to lay out our own dearly
         beloved ones to rest
        1. Their hearts were full and heavy.
        2. How exceedingly difficult it was for them to reconcile themselves to the fact that they had been separated from Jesus,
            the Lord.
    C. When they reached the sepulcher their discovery greatly disturbed them.
         1. They saw that the stone had been rolled away and the tomb was open
             a. They hastily concluded that the body had been removed.
         2.  Overcome by grief, they stood near the rock- hewn burial place to behold a vision of angels who were clothed with
              dazzling garments.
    D. As they stood there in their sorrow a voice spoke to them and said, "Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, which
         was 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" (Matthew 28:5-7).
    E.  The Resurrection still speaks to us today. What does it have to say to modern disciples? What does it have to say to
         people who have lost their way?
I.  THE RESURRECTION SPEAKS OF THE LIVING LORD
    A. It was not Christ's death that proved His mission or His Messiahship.
         1. Had the Lord remained in that grave and returned to dust, our darkness would be as deep as the bottomless pit.
         2. There would be no hope for deliverance from sin or death.
         3. But thank God, death could not conquer Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him!
         4. His resurrection was His triumph.
         5. It was proof of all that He claimed to be, the token that His work was  accepted by the Father. Rom. 1:4
    B. There is no record in history more firmly established than these facts that Christ died, was buried, and arose from the
        dead on the third day.  Men and women of impeccable character have borne witness that they saw Him, knew Him, ate
        with Him, walked and talked with Him as He moved among them in His resurrection body.
    C. Luke, the beloved physician, says, (Acts 1:3). “To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many 
         infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:”
II. THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY IS CHRIST CRUCIFIED, BURIED, AND RISEN FROM THE DEAD
    A. Corinthians 1:23-24; “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
         But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”  Gal. 6:14
III.  THE RESURRECTION GUARANTEES OUR REDEMPTION
    A.  The argument of the apostle Paul is this: “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” 1 Cor.
         15:17.
         1. If Christ is not risen, then all faith and hope that men and women have built upon Jesus crumbles to the ground.
         2. The faith that saves rests solely on the foundation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead - Romans 4:25
             “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”
IV.  THE RESURRECTION IS THE FOUNDATION FOR THE HOPE OF LIFE
BEYOND THE GRAVE
    A. Our Lord's resurrection is the promise of other resurrections. John 5:28-29
         1. It is upon this truth that the future is to be understood.
         2. It proclaims with finality that life here and life beyond the grave is one and continuous. It is unbroken by death!
    B. The Resurrection gave the same Jesus who was taken from the disciples by death back to them.
    C. When our loved ones die and pass into that strange and silent land, what hope do we have that we shall see them again?
         1. None but the words of the risen Christ, who said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though
             he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26).
         2. All the saved will be in the first resurrection. Rev. 20:4-5  “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment
             was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of
             God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads,
             or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until
             the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”
         3. All the unsaved will be resurrected in the second resurrection. Rev. 20:5 “But the rest of the dead lived not again until
              the thousand years were finished.
              Rev. 20:13-14  “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
              were in them: and they were judged  every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake
              of  fire. This is the second death.”
     D. The voice of God still speaks today through His Word to the followers of the living Lord.
          1. "Go quickly, and tell...that he is risen from the dead" (Matthew 28:7).
          2. The very foundation of the message we proclaim to the lost world is found in the assurance that we worship and 
              serve a risen, living Savior.
          3. Our passion should be to teach and preach  "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he 
              was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Conclusion: Again and again our hearts need to be reminded that the resurrection is the only assurance of eternal life.
     A. No greater joy can come to the heart of a Christian than that  moment when an unbeliever confesses his or her faith in
          the saving power of the risen, living Lord!