A few weeks ago I saw this cartoon in a Christian newspaper, and it jumped out at me that this would be my Easter sermon! I didn’t know how I would use it, but I knew the Spirit would give me a sermon to go with it. For our radio listeners who can’t see the cartoon on our multimedia screen: Cartoonist Joe McKeever has drawn a group of tourists looking at the Garden tomb in Jerusalem. It’s an open tomb where the stone door has been rolled away. Their guide says, "The angel moved the stone to reveal an empty tomb and a risen Christ. Ever since, man has been trying to roll that stone back!" How true that is!
Our world today denies and scoffs at the idea that Jesus arose from the grave. The miraculous stories of the Bible that were our forefathers’ foundations of faith are now considered myths by an "enlightened" society. Satan must really be gloating as he thinks he has undermined the Bible, after God said his Word will stand forever. But, I remind us that the Almighty has the last word!
Listen to what Jesus said in Revelation 3:8, and then turn to Matthew’s account in 28:1-2. You’ll want to stand in honor of God’s Word.
"Maybe it’s time we reconsider what it means to be intelligent," says David Brooks of the Weekly Standard. After the Presidential election was so close that it had to be decided by the chads from Florida ballots and confirmed by the Supreme Court, many people questioned the experience and intelligence of George W. Bush to lead our country. Many so-called political experts called Bush the "simple-minded president." Now, commentators are saying Bush has something the pointy-heads can’t understand: It’s his faith! George Bush said in confident humility, "Maybe God has chosen me for this moment in time....A lot of (our soldiers) told me they had been sustained by prayer, (and had) been comforted by the Almighty during what had to have been very difficult times....Prayer is powerful." So, if faith seems unintelligent to you, remember that the Bible says, "The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men."
I call my sermon for Easter Sunday, 2003, "God’s Open Door." Follow my outline and the various texts I mention. I want you to notice four things that are still open today because that first Easter was real.
I. THE TOMB IS OPEN, Matthew 28:5-7
First, after viewing this year’s wonderful 13th season of the Petersburg Passion Play, you know the tomb is open. Listen to Matthew 28:5-7, "The angel said to the women, ’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; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him.’ Lo, I have told you."
The angel who rolled back the stone didn’t open the tomb to let Jesus out. Jesus is God against whom no locked door can stand. He later proved he could pass through walls when he materialized before his disciples in the Upper Room that same night. The angel opened the tomb to let us see inside!
If you visit Gordon’s Calvary in Jerusalem today, you’ll seen an unfishished tomb. It was obviously a rich man’s tomb set in a garden; but, for some reason, he didn’t finish his tomb after only one burial slab was cut out of the rock inside. Could it be because someone so important was buried in that tomb that the owner never finished it and never used it for his family? On the side of that tomb today you can see a small cross that was chiseled into the tomb’s rock face hundreds of years ago.
That tomb is near a place outside the city wall where the rocks take the shape of a skull. The tomb of Joseph was said to be very close to Calvary. So, all the evidence points to the fact that the hill and tomb British General Gordon discovered are the true sites. If that’s so, I wonder if the angel who originally rolled the stone door away is still sitting invisibly on that stone to keep the tomb open today.
The Jewish leaders who crucified Jesus tried to roll the stone back over the empty tomb by bribing the soldiers to say his disciples stole his body away while they slept. Not only is that a lame excuse, since no one would dare tamper with the Roman seal on that tomb, especially with a centurion and 100 men nearby. But, also, if the soldiers were asleep; how did they know who stole the body?
Philosophers and secular scientists have tried to roll the stone back over the tomb by saying that science has proven it’s impossible for the dead to live again. Liberal preachers have tried to roll that stone back by saying Jesus didn’t really die; he just swooned and fainted. His disciples revived him when they came to get him out of the tomb.
But, none of those excuses have closed the tomb. Because of Easter, the tomb is still open, and it’s still empty. Scientists have swept down the floors and walls of that tomb and found no DNA evidence that a body ever decomposed there. Neither death, nor the grave, nor Satan can abolish the fact that Jesus is alive today! He’s present wherever Christians have gathered in his name to worship today!
II. THE GOSPEL IS OPEN, Acts 2:21; Revelation 22:17
Yes, the tomb is open because Jesus is alive. But, there’s a second thing that’s still open after 2,000 years. The gospel is open. If that tomb were closed and his disciples knew Jesus was really dead, do you think they would have given their lives in the lion arenas or let themselves be burnt at the stake when all they had to do was admit Jesus was a fake? Could a dead Christ have inspired a gospel that has turned the world right-side out? Would a myth abolish slavery, or elevate womanhood, or establish hospitals and benevolent institutions all over the world? None of these things had happened until the Christian gospel taught men to love others as much as they love themselves!
Listen to Acts 2:21 and Revelation 22:17. "And, it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved....And, the Spirit and the bride say, ’Come.’ And, let him that heareth say, ’Come.’ And, let him that is athirst come. And, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
The gospel is open to all people. We don’t have to select whom we will share the good news with. The gospel of Jesus Christ can save Saddam Hussein and Osama Ben Lauden as easily as the little child who comes to Bible school. It can change that neighbor you fuss and fight with into a brother or sister in Christ and give them a sweet, sweet spirit. The open gospel is the answer to our cities’ problems of crime and abuse. It is the one permanent way to ensure our sons and daughters never have to go off to war again.
But, the only way we can share it with all people is for each of us to tell someone else that God loves them, Jesus died for them, and they can have hope because God and fellow Christians are pulling for them.
One evening, a man was driving down a country road when he lost control and wound up in a ditch. He walked to the closest farm house and asked for help to pull his car out. The farmer said, "Sure. Let me hitch up Dusty, and you’ll be out in no time." A few minutes later the farmer appeared with Dusty—an old, swaybacked, almost blind mule. After Dusty was hitched to the car, the farmer cracked his whip and said, "Pull, Buck, pull." Nothing happened. The farmer cracked the whip again and said, "Pull, Clyde, pull." Nothing happened. He cracked the whip the third time and said, "Pull, Dusty, pull." Dusty began to pull the car out of the ditch. The man thanked the farmer and then asked, "Sir, I’m really curious: If your mule’s name is Dusty, why did you say ‘Pull, Buck’ and ‘Pull Clyde’?" The farmer said, "Well, you know Dusty’s old and he doesn’t see too good, and he doesn’t have much confidence. If he thought he had to do all that work by himself, he’d never even try!"
Because Jesus has already done the work, all who trust in him become part of God’s family. We’re never alone because we have the Holy Spirit helping us tell everyone the gospel is open and available to anyone who will "A-B-C:" Admit you are a sinner and need a Savior. Believe Jesus died to pay your sin penalty. Then, Confess in prayer that you want him to be your Savior, and confess him before others as you follow him in baptism and live for him daily as your Lord.
III. OUR WITNESS IS OPEN, Revelation 3:7-8
The third thing that’s open because of Easter is found in Revelation 3:7-8. Our witness is open. "And, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ’These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth: I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it."
When Jesus gave the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20, he stated that all authority and power belong to him. That means the same power that created the world now keeps our witness open. The King of the Universe has given us the right to meddle in anyone’s affairs, stop them from the road to destruction, and show them the road to Heaven.
A preacher was requested by family members to visit a man in a mental institution who thought he was Jesus. When the preacher introduced himself, the man replied, "Bless you, my son." The preacher asked if he were Jesus and he replied that he was. So, the preacher excused himself and said he would be back in a couple of minutes. The preacher returned with a measuring tape and some lumber and nails. He measured the man’s arms and height, and then he began nailing the boards into a cross. The man asked what he was doing. The preacher said, "You know what I’m doing. I’m helping you fulfill your destiny!" At that, the man cried out, "I’m not Jesus! I’m not Jesus!"
No, he wasn’t Jesus, but when you invite Jesus into your heart you can become like Jesus. He can change your character and give meaning to your life. He will carry you through the heartaches and sorrows you will face. Because our witness is still open, anyone may call on the name of the Lord and be saved. But, beware! This offer may be recalled without notice! When Jesus bursts through the sky and starts his descent, it will be too late to be saved. Decide for Jesus now and ensure your mansion in Heaven.
IV. HEAVEN IS OPEN, Revelation 21:12, 25
The fourth thing that’s open because of Easter is Heaven. Look at Revelation 21:12, and 25. "(The city) had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels.... And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there."
Just like the angel, who opened the tomb, sat on it to guard it for its first visitors, Heaven also has angels guarding its twelve gates. The massive walls of the Holy City will be made of diamond 256 feet high. It will be laid off in a square with three gates on each side. An angel will be permanently placed at each one of those gates for all eternity. You think the guards at the Buckingham Palace cannot be distracted; just wait until you see those angel guards at the gates of Heaven! Their job is to ensure that Heaven will stay open forever. Those who are saved can go in and out. We won’t be prisoners there. We can go out through those gates and visit the farthermost planet in the new universe our Father will make for our enjoyment and then will ourselves back to sit at Jesus’ feet for 1,000 years! The same God who keeps our gospel open guarantees Heaven will be open for all those who love him.
