The Futility of Stopping God's Plan

And they don't, they live in Rio and it's always warm down there. Carol, I want you to tell the story about him coming up here and going outside. The father-in-law? Yeah, the father-in-law. Here you go, Carol. This way you can be on the recording. Thank you very much. David was up here about three years ago. Two things. He wanted to see snow. Never seen snow. And he wanted to ride a horse. And he got both. I like the prose to death of eating that horse or looking out there at that horse. All he did was ride around this little area they had for horses. And somebody led the horse. I like the prose to death. It's cold, I guess, today almost. Well, anyway, Danny and Brian live in Lincoln, as some of you know. And however cold it is here, you can drop it about 10 degrees up there. And so it was single digits. But the sun was out bright, much like this morning. And so he said, I think I'm going to go outside a little while and get some warm air. And Danny said, Dad, you don't understand. It's cold out there. And he said, Ah, the sun's out. How cold can it be? He went out and he found out. He said, Whoa, I didn't think that was possible. It was a memorable thing for her. Bright and shiny day today. And being outside is plenty cold. Did you get everything working? Huh? Oh, it's already recording? Okay. Well, your story got told forever. Chapter 27 of the book of Matthew. When Jesus was doing his ministry on earth, he soon ran afoul of the Pharisees and the Sadducees too. And as his popularity grew and the crowds grew around him, they were determined more than ever to make sure that he didn't succeed. And one time they looked around and said the whole world's turning to him. They were really deeply concerned that he would destroy the Jewish faith and religion as they knew it. So they did everything that they could to stop him. They questioned him to try to get him to say things that would turn people against him. They charged him with being a false teacher and giving criticism of what he had to say. And each thing that they tried to do, none of it was really successful for him. They were determined to do everything that they could to stop him. Finally, the time came when they felt like it was a matter of their religion or Jesus' life. This is what they thought. And if you thought that someone was on the verge of destroying the Christian faith, you would feel motivated to do something to stop them. And that's how they felt. They had a problem though. Jesus was very popular. A lot of people heard what he had to say, had seen the miracles that he had performed, and were very supportive of him. The Passover that came when Jesus came to Jerusalem carried with it thousands of people who came from all over the country to be there. Many of them had already seen and heard Jesus. Some estimations say that at Passover there would be a million people in the Jerusalem area for the Passover. The Pharisees and the Sadducees who were interested in destroying Jesus' efforts were faced with the fact that many people were very open to Christ. And when he came into the city, they recognized him as Messiah. They laid their coats down, did a celebration for him being there. They were in a difficult spot. They were trying to find a way to stop Jesus and still not generate anger and resentment on the part of other people around them. They found someone on the inside to help them so they could catch Jesus at night when no one was around. They didn't have to worry about the crowds stepping in to protect Jesus. And so they found him at night. They quickly brought him to the place where they could do a trial before the Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin was not supposed to meet at night, but they arranged this so that they could meet with a group from the Sanhedrin, maybe not even all of them, and had this trial so that the morning of the next day they had charges fully ready to bring him before Pilate. Pilate didn't want to cooperate with what they were doing, but they brought great pressure against him. He was dependent on them to keep order among the Jewish people. If they didn't, then he would lose his job. And so they were bringing the pressure against Pilate to get him to make the decision to allow them to kill Jesus. And he did. And so Jesus was killed. Every step of the way, they worked hard in every way that they could to make sure that Jesus was destroyed. They did not know or understand that everything that they were doing, God had actually foretold would come to him. That Christ would die. They thought in the effort that they were making, that they were standing in the way of Jesus accomplishing his purpose. But Jesus had told his disciples that this event was coming and he called it his glory. His greatness. So all the things that they were doing in an effort to be able to stop him, actually became a means whereby Jesus was able to accomplish the very mission that he came to accomplish. The effort to try to stop God from doing something he wants to do is absolutely futile for anyone. Here in this story, we see the next step that they take to try to stop Jesus and his mission and his ministry. Verse 62, chapter 27. The next day, it's after the burial of Jesus. The next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priest and the Pharisees went to Pilate. Sir, they said, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days, I will rise again. What is interesting about this story is it begins by talking about what had happened to some of the people in the community of Israel. Chief priest, which had been the Sadducees, the leaders of the Sanhedrin, and the Pharisees went to Pilate together. You know, whenever Paul was brought to trial and he was accused of desecrating the temple, he got out of it by breaking the mention of the resurrection, that Christ was resurrected. Because he knew that the Sadducees who were there, who didn't believe in spiritual matters or the resurrection, and the Pharisees who believed in the spiritual things of the world and resurrection, were violently opposed to each other. But here, for the first time, Matthew brings these two groups together. They don't like each other. They don't believe the same things. They're constantly at war with each other. But here, they join together in a common cause to stop Christ in the ministry that he's been sent in this world to give. All of the rally of the Jewish religious leaders have come now to this one place with a common agreement. Jesus has been killed, and they know that he'd made this promise that after three days he would be raised from the dead. They want to make sure that there is no way in the world that he can continue the ministry that he's had, and they recognize that if he is raised from the dead, that this promise that he made, if it becomes known to other people, many, many others will turn to him out of the interest in what he's done and out of this miraculous event that's taking place. So they have joined forces to combine all of their energies again to say, we want to make sure that what he said would take place never takes place. They knew Jesus was dead. They said that on the day after the preparation day, the chief priest and the Pharisees went to Pilate. Sir, they said, the word Sir in the Bible is the word for Lord. When you read through the book of Matthew, as far as I can tell, this word Lord is never used for anyone except Christ. The Pharisees and the Sadducees are not prepared to call Jesus the Lord, but they are prepared to call Pilate the Lord. This term of ultimate appreciation of his authority. They've denied the authority that God had given to Christ and have recognized this authority in Pilate. They want him to do something for them, and so they exalt him in a way that they were not even willing to do with Christ. We remember that while he was still alive, they used this phrase to emphasize one thing. He is no longer still alive. We have already stopped this thing in its tracks, but we remember before that, that he'd said something that would cause us to be concerned about what happens now. What's going to take place? Then they call him the deceiver. We remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said. Now the word that's used here for a deceiver, someone that doesn't tell the truth, we know what that means. But Jesus used it himself for false prophets. People who claim to have a word from God, but who did not. People who claim to have a message from God, but did not. Now Jesus spoke against these deceivers. These people who were false in their prophecies and false in their spiritual lives. And now they bring to Jesus the very accusation that he had made about others who were deceivers. He was this deceiver, and while he was alive, still alive, though now he's dead, we want to make sure that nothing happens that fulfills his promise. They see Jesus as a false prophet. Someone who brings the wrong message from God, a lie, distortion of the truth. He says, after three days I will rise again. So what they ask, so give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Now I don't know a lot about the customs of the ancient world, but just what I read. But I did have one time a funeral for Hazi's father, Hazi Jehi's father. And he was a Muslim. And whenever the guy came who was the imam to help with the funeral, and I was to help him, he told me a lot of the customs that they go through. And one of the things that they do is whenever the person is in the casket dead, they believe that the spirit hovers around the casket for three days, which is what the Jews used to think too. So that when a person was dead, the spirit was still there for three days. And so that period of time would allow them to communicate with him. In their funeral service they asked people that had ever insulted him or had anything against him to come up in the casket and speak to him. As his spirit was still there and they could still hear it. So that was a prominent part of their funeral practices. So here the three days has more significance to us if we understand this. He is still spiritually there for three days. But after three days, then he's actually gone. So we have to make sure in this three day period that nothing happens so that people would steal his body and claim that he's still alive. We want to make sure that everyone knows he's dead. So the three day period is a critical time because that is that lapse in which the person then is no longer there. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal the body and tell people that he's been raised from the dead. They had no question in their own minds that he'd been killed. They had no question about that. But they were afraid that something would happen that would raise some kind of doubt about whether or not he was actually raised from the dead. So their plan was to make sure that that didn't happen. We don't know exactly what they had in mind about it. There's some speculation from people who read these stories to think that their proof of this would be he's still in the tomb in three days, and we can open the tomb then and see his body there, mangled and decaying, and everyone then will know for sure that Jesus was dead. No more clear evidence could be given than three days later, his spirit now gone, and you show his physical body in a state of deterioration, it would be like the final act to be able to say this man's life is over and never again will you have to worry about him. So their plan was to try to make sure that nothing would take place. This last deception, they said, will be worse than the first. If he's deceived them with his teaching, if they steal his body and take it away and deceive us into thinking he's been raised from the dead, that would be even more damaging than what he did before. All of his teachings had gathered great crowds. Some of the miracles that he did caused people to think that he was extraordinary above anyone else. Now, if they came out and said, not only did he do these great things, but he was killed and he's raised from the dead, how many more people of the Jewish community would believe in him was their fear. So we must do something to stop all of this. Pilate's response was, take a guard, Pilate answered, go make the tomb as secure as you know how. Pilate does not agree to participate in doing this himself, but he gives to them, if you can imagine the animosity that existed between the Romans and the soldiers, the Roman soldiers and the Jewish community, you realize how odd this is. Pilate says, take some soldiers, Roman soldiers, and you supervise them and take them to where the tomb is and do whatever is necessary. The Jewish people were not even really allowed to participate with Gentiles in their home, to eat with them or to be around them. But here in this time of emergency, Pilate says, I'm not going to do this, but I will give you some soldiers and you take them and you supervise and tell them exactly what they need to do. The Jewish people were so anxious to make sure this happened, that they were prepared to do something they would never do at any other time. There was such great resentment on the part of the Jewish people to the Roman soldiers who were there, that they found great comfort if anyone would kill a Roman soldier. Whenever Jesus talked to them about if someone demands that you carry their load, the Roman soldier, a mile, then you go ahead and carry it too. It was one of his most difficult teachings. We are going to help these people who have taken over our land and live here among us. We're going to support what they're doing and now they're cooperating with the Roman soldiers to do something they feel will see the very end of the ministry of Jesus. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. Two things that they did. The stone, we don't know exactly what kind it was. There were some that they rolled a big rock right up in the hole and there's some they took a big flat rock like a wheel and rolled it in front of the opening of the tomb. Whatever size the rock was or whatever way it was done, they were going to seal it. The sealing usually took place when they took a long piece of rope and they would cover the rock that was across there and they would then fasten it in some manner with wax or some kind of adhesives to either side of the tomb where the rock could not be moved without breaking the seal where it was sealed with wax of some kind so that it would be clear even if they took it off and rolled the stone back and tried to put it back it would be clear that the seal had been changed or broken at one time. It was their guarantee that no one could fool with it. Either the soldiers who were there or the disciples of Jesus. They wanted an iron clad way by which they could say the disciples of Jesus cannot steal this man away. No one from the outside can get in there and take him. Little did they know that they were doing exactly what God needed them to do. He wanted to raise his son to life and he wanted there to be no doubt in the world that this took place. He couldn't have had his own disciples go there and stand around outside the tomb and guard it and then say to everyone, Jesus was raised to life. They wouldn't believe them. They would say whatever they wanted to say. He couldn't have any of his friends, any of his followers. He couldn't even have neutral people. Who could he have? He could have his enemies. His enemies who would say, we are going to make sure to the whole world that there is no way by which his disciples can break into this tomb steal his body and take it out. That's what God wanted. He wanted there to be no doubt whatsoever that the disciples would have stolen the body of Jesus. And while they did this at great cost to themselves and a sacrifice of their own pride in cooperating with the Romans and cooperating with each other they paid great effort and price to get done what they thought would be the last nail in the coffin of Jesus. It turned out to be the very first message to the whole world. Jesus Christ arose and everyone knows that we didn't steal his body. We have proof from his enemies that there was nothing we did that would break into the tomb and take it away. What we see in this story is the miraculous mind and power that God has to do things. We look around us at things that take place and we can see things that are impossible to us and we know that God has wanted us to do them. And when we look at the things that seem impossible to us I can't do that, I don't have that skill, I don't have that ability I can't imagine how it's going to work out. It can be small things like God asks you to do something your schedule is full and you say, I don't have time. Then you say, OK, I'm going to do it anyway. And you discover that suddenly you do have time. God asks you to speak to someone about your own experience with him and you say, well, I can't talk, I can't speak, I can't do things. But you decide that you're going to do it and you try it and suddenly you do communicate and they do understand and it does touch them. The power of God to overcome all the obstacles that we face are very important for us to believe this. Now there may be people who are working hard to destroy the witness that you have, the faith that you have the ministry and work that you have but if God has given you that task and you simply do it he makes sure that you can accomplish that task. For he never asks us to do things that he doesn't give us the ability to make sure that it's accomplished. Now I want you to look at this from the side of the disciples. They see Jesus in this tomb and they see all these people gathered around soldiers there with this seal on either side of the tomb around the stone it looks to them like it's the last effort. There is no hope and no chance. What we have to understand about what God does is that he's not really concerned about his opponents. We get exercised a lot of times about the people who are the opponents of Christianity. All the efforts they made to do things that stop us. We have to remember. Every time you hear people talk about how Christianity is going down and less and less believers and the church is going to finally die you have to remember this story. What God does is he uses his power to do things that are impossible to us to accomplish his purpose. Even in the Old Testament stories where you see the people of Israel where they were in danger and their enemies came over and took their land and took their crops and took their animals took all the things that they had. God let the people of Israel get into these situations so when they got to the place where they were just at the last stages he would step in, he would bring a judge he would give him wisdom and power and they would lead the people and drive out the enemy. He let them go until the time came that they were certain that it was impossible and they were gone for. There was no future. And then he would step in. Oftentimes the impossible circumstances we come to are God's way of simply saying I want to demonstrate the power that I have. If you know that the promise God gives you is clear and plain and what he's asked you to do you should never be discouraged about what it looks like right now because God is not concerned about that. In fact, he welcomes that. How much more power does it show you have if you're arm wrestling an eight year old? Well, any man or woman could probably win that contest pretty easily. But if you want to show how strong you are get a big guy. One of those 300, 400 pound linemen and you sit down with your arm and then you push his arm down. If God wants to show his power he has to put us sometimes in situations that are humanly impossible to change. And then when we say to God you asked me to do this I'm trying my best to do it I've asked you for guidance I'm following you as best I know how but I cannot see a way in the world that this is going to work. Only you, God, can do this. This is the situation God lives for. To be able to have a faithful servant in a position to say I know what you've asked me to do I'm going to do it but I am certain it's going to fail and then he can step in and do what he alone can do with his power to make it blossom and complete itself. The follower of Christ who gets overwhelmed in those times of despair has lost faith. Did God tell me to do this? Why is it not working? I can't see any way it's going to succeed so I give up. If you know that God has asked you to do something and you're doing it regardless of the circumstances around you you have to say Did God ask me to do it? Am I going to be faithful to do it? Then I have to trust that it's going to be successful. Now let me remind you Successful does not always mean the resurrection. For when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and he was praying he asked for the burden to be removed from him but the Father did not do that. As he was brought to trial it looked desperate and if he had said OK God this is a difficult situation I don't know what I'm going to do equip me. If he planned on being acquitted right there then he would have been doubly disappointed. And whenever he was found guilty and they said we're going to now scourge his body he would have said OK now I've done everything up to here but what I ask now is that somehow or other I would be able to escape. And he took the scourging he might have felt hopeless. What Jesus never did was at any stage in this death process did he give up that in the end somewhere God would accomplish his purpose in his life. That's what faith really is about. Never giving up on what we know God has told us we should do. And always believing that in the end God will accomplish his purpose. Jesus' last thoughts as he was dying on the cross was that everyone left him and here he was the end of his life and the end of his ministry. The last conscious thing that he thought and saw. He was unconscious, dead but God was still at work. He was still at work and ready to do the most miraculous and powerful thing that he ever did in all of the history of the world. That's what faith means. I know what you've asked. I know what you've told me to do. And I'm doing it. And I'm not going to give up even though it has become to me hopeless. What did Jesus do to change the circumstances around him? Nothing. He just laid in the tomb dead. Everything was in the hands of God. We have to understand that this whole thing of living the life of obedience and submission to God is a matter of placing everything in God's hands. And trusting that because we've done what we know he wants us to do the victory will be his. And that's what I mean. It wasn't that Jesus did something to get his body alive. It was that God did something to transform this death and defeat into victory and power. In the early days of the church, Christmas was not a very big day for them. Babies are born all the time. What was a big day for those believers was the resurrection. What it said to them is there is not anything in this world that is impossible for God. And once you have that confidence, you can face the lions as they did in the early church. You can face the torture as they did in the early church. Because they had absolute confidence that whatever happened to them didn't matter. That God in the end would give them the victory and achieve his purpose in their life. How often we get discouraged. You're talking about all the people that commit suicide. They just give up. All my problems are so overwhelming nothing can help me. If they just believed this story, then they would see those impossibilities and it would cause them to be able to simply laugh. I think of this often in this way. If you have been watching a ball game, or you're getting ready to watch a ball game, a football game let's say, you hear on the news that the team you're for won. And you've recorded this game and you get started and the other team scores 48 points in the first quarter and your team has none. Now if you didn't know the end of the story, you'd turn the TV off and grouse around all day about how your team lost. But if you'd heard the news that they really won the game with every opponent's touchdown your enthusiasm for the game would be raised. I don't know what they did and I don't know how they did it, but I can't wait to see how they overcame such a great deficit as this. If you know what God has promised you, no matter what the circumstances of your life, the worse it gets, the worse it gets, the more excited you could become because you know that God has made you a promise that will never fail. The story of the crucifixion lets us see how great human effort, all the power of the Roman Empire, all the power of the Jewish nation, could not stand in the way of God accomplishing His purpose. You can't beat God. You just can't. And when you live with that confidence, you can face anything that life brings to you. Jesus shows us how to face the most difficult circumstances, death, with the confidence that God is going to take care of things. He shows us that no matter how big your enemies are, they cannot stop God's plan for your life, for His power is greater than all of that. Would you pray with me? The key ingredient is to start out first saying, okay God, what is it you want me to do? And the next step is to do it. Sometimes it will work great, and sometimes it will be disastrous. But whichever one it is, if you have confidence He's told you this, and you're doing what you ought to do as best you can, you should never, never get discouraged or overwhelmed. Because your discouragement and being overwhelmed is a clear sign you've lost trust that God has guided you and that He will provide for you. Despair is a common disease for all of us, God. Sometimes in the middle of all the things that happen to us, life looks as black and dark as the darkest night. But in all of that, come with the words, trust me. So help us in those moments to be able to do that. And then to be able to tell the world what a great thing God has done to bring victory from defeat. In the name of Christ, we give thanks for the promise you've made us and the power you have to help us. Amen. Amen. Amen.