And I'm going to invite you, if you can't join me in the Word of God, I'm going to be reading out of the book of Matthew chapter 27.
Amen. If you have your Bibles, you can go there. If not, you can join us on the screen.
Matthew, the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 27 and verse 62, something that the Lord has placed on my heart to share with you today.
A message that I believe, it holds the answer, the promise to the life that God has called each of us to live.
You being here today is not an accident, but God has brought us to this place today. Amen.
You know, there are no accidents in God. Amen? There are no accidents.
We are here because God brought us here.
And I'm going to invite your attention to this portion of scripture. It reads this way in Matthew 27 and verse 62.
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.
So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day.
Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead.
This last deception will be worse than the first.
Take a guard, Pilate answered. Go make the tomb as secure as you know how.
So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
I'm going to entitle this message today. I'm going to ask God to help me preach this.
I'm going to call it the barrier breaker.
I believe that God wants to speak to somebody today.
I'm going to invite you to pray with me if you can close your eyes.
If you want to lift your hands, you can.
We're going to pray together. We're going to ask God to speak to us today because God has a word.
Father, we come before you today. We thank you for your goodness, your mercy.
You woke us up this morning. Put the breath of life into our lungs.
Thank you for the life that you have given us.
Thank you, God, for allowing us to come into this place, experience your love once again, your resurrection power.
We thank you for an empty tomb today, Lord.
And I pray, Jesus, that you will touch the hearing, the understanding of all that are gathered today, anoint our ears, and God, anoint my lips of clay.
That I can speak this word, God, with power and with clarity and that your name would be glorified in your name, Jesus.
We pray, someone say, amen.
You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
I today invite you to a 2000 year old tomb, not just any tomb, but a tomb that holds the answer to life's eternal questions.
This tomb, borrowed from Joseph of Amarothea, served as the temporary resting place for the crucified body of Jesus, and took center stage in what became the greatest miracle in human history,
the greatest story ever told, the greatest inauguration to the greatest movement that the world has ever known.
It was here when all hope seemed lost and the enemy had prevailed that Jesus snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
And not this tomb, hell lost its power, someone say, amen.
Death would lose its sting and the grave its victory.
It was here that the curse of sin would be broken.
The head of Satan would be crushed and he put all things under his feet.
Can we clap our hands today and thank God for that?
Amen.
This tomb was no different than any other modest tomb in ancient Judea.
These tombs were hewn from natural rock formations such as limestone caves. They typically consisted of a small burial chamber with a low ceiling, rough walls, and perhaps a single stone shelf where a body was laid.
It was important for you to understand that contrary to what you may have envisioned in your mind, the tomb of Jesus was not an elaborate mausoleum, a fancy tomb that maybe you might see today for a dignitary or a wealthy individual.
There are some impressive mausoleums out there I have seen. Some even look nicer than a house would.
It's so elaborate and so much money is spent on them, but the tomb of Jesus was a modest burial place.
It was nothing different from all the others, but what made Jesus' tomb different was how it was secured, the way that it was guarded.
In fact, there were three distinct barriers put in place with the goal of keeping Jesus buried. Three distinct barriers.
They were, number one, the stone that enclose the tomb, the Roman seal upon that stone, and the soldiers who stood guard outside of his tomb.
And each of these barriers represent an obstacle or some form of opposition to knowing and experiencing the hope of Christ's resurrection.
So what I would like to do today is look at these barriers and the message that they hold about the various obstacles and barriers that can stand between us
and experiencing the resurrection power of God or eternal life.
And as we look at these barriers, we will see that these were no small matters, that every one of these barriers, the stone, the seal, and the soldiers, was put there on purpose.
And I believe that it was to demonstrate to us the miraculous power of God and his plan to redeem us.
So I want to first look at how Jesus came to break or he broke through the stone.
Someone say the stone. He broke through the stone.
The first barrier is this stone that Jesus broke through that covered his tomb.
It was this stone that is a fixture in our minds is something that when we think about the burial place of Jesus, obviously the stone plays a central role.
It is a central piece in an illustration of the burial tomb of Jesus Christ, that stone.
It's a very important part of the story, that stone.
And this stone was, it was very large.
It was heavy, very heavy.
In fact, there are estimates that it weighed several tons.
This was a large stone, a heavy stone.
The size and the weight of the stone was of such concern that when the women, the three women came to anoint the body of Jesus, the two Mary's and Salameh, came to anoint him and pay tribute to the body of Jesus.
They were concerned about above all things that stone.
They wondered with worry as we read in Mark 16 and verse 3.
They asked a question as they were going.
They were curious.
They were concerned who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us.
This was a concern for them.
They wanted to anoint the body of Jesus, which was customary, which was a ritual at that time to go anoint the bodies of loved ones who had passed.
That's what they came to do.
On the top of their minds was, if we're going to do this, well, how are we going to get past that huge, large, heavy stone that's in front of his tomb?
Moving such a stone would require a lot of manpower.
It would have required possibly a group of strong men, muscular men with tools even to get the stone out of the way.
I don't know if anybody here has ever moved something heavy.
That requires a group of people moving big furniture or even objects like a stone or a big rock in your backyard or something or pulling a tree out of the roots.
It was that kind of obstacle.
It was physical.
It was a blunt obstacle.
Not something that you could just kind of grease with butter on the bottom and just kind of roll it that way.
It was not something that you can just, you know, just, you know, kind of fish it around with and wiggle it that way.
This was a heavy stone.
It was a solid stone, and it would require a lot of strength.
But when the women got there, and after asking this question, who's going to roll the stone away for us?
It says in verse four, when the women arrived, they saw that the stone had been rolled away.
And it makes the footnote it was very large.
Just in case you forgot, this was a large stone, folks.
It's like the rider wanted us to remember, hey, don't forget, we're not talking about a pebble here.
We're not even talking about a boulder.
We're talking about something that really is humanly impossible to move.
Once this thing gets it put in place, you cannot just easily move it.
It's kind of fit for that point.
And this, the women saw that the stone had been rolled away.
This stone represents a problem, but clearly this was no match for the power of God.
Without the assistance of man, when Jesus resurrected from the grave, the angel rolled back the stone,
and he was sitting upon that stone.
I've come to tell you today that this stone represents those hard and heavy barriers that exist in our life
that often will try to keep us from knowing God and experiencing the empty-tuned miracle.
But I want you to know today that there is no stone that God cannot move.
Somebody ought to give God some praise.
Hallelujah.
I said, Hallelujah, somebody.
There is no stone that God cannot move.
There is no situation that is too big or too heavy or too grand or too old or too this or too that that God cannot move.
There has never been an obstacle in the history of our world that God has looked at that said,
What am I going to do about that?
No, your God today is bigger than any obstacle.
He's bigger than any problem. He's bigger than any disease.
Come on, do I got to witness here today?
He's bigger than any challenge.
Our God is greater than any stone that stands between us in our blessing.
Come on and clap your hands and give God some praise today.
Hallelujah, somebody shout, Hallelujah.
Come on, shout it.
There's no stone that can stop him today.
There's no stone and yes there are.
I understand.
We at times will face a stone.
Sometimes that stone looks like a financial hardship.
Sometimes that stone looks like a physical ailment or disease.
Something that is just unmovable.
Something that that silence can't move.
Something that even money can't solve.
There are just some barriers sometimes that get placed in front of us.
It could be an emotional setback, a thing that you can't move from your past.
But there is no obstacle.
Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit when I said that.
There is no obstacle that God cannot remove.
If you believe us, amen.
He is the same God who parted the Red Sea.
He is the same God who stopped the Jordan River.
He is the same God who demolished the walls of Jericho.
God loves removing things that man cannot move.
Oh my Lord, God loves removing stuff that man believes is impossible.
Hey, nothing is impossible for God.
And he moved the stone.
And what man cannot do, God can do.
What man cannot do, God can do.
Above all, the restoration of Jesus proves that no stone in your life is too big for God to move.
So I dare you to think about the biggest obstacle you've got in your life.
The biggest thing, the biggest reason or excuse or problem in your life is say,
well, if this one thing will kind of get sorted out, then I would really give my heart to Jesus.
Then I would get baptized in those waters.
Then I would just really, I dare it.
Then I would give more to God.
Whatever that thing is today, you can walk out of those doors with that barrier removed in the spirit.
You can walk out of those doors free to live for God, free to receive the miracle of His resurrection power.
There's no obstacle that God cannot move.
I've seen him move some big stuff.
I've seen him move some big stuff, big stuff in my life.
And there are some stones sometimes that stand between us and the miracle of an empty tomb,
which is the power of God, which is the plan of God and the purpose of God.
But God put it, when the women got there, you know, they saw, there was an angel or even the guards,
they saw there was an angel sitting on top.
God sits on top of your greatest worry.
God, the thing you're worried about is God's recliner.
God is so really, you're, that's what you're worried about.
I sit on your biggest problem.
I sit on your, my God, I just can't get past this point today.
You got to know that if this, how big it is, God sits on it.
He's got dominion over it.
The next thing we see, the next barrier that Jesus confronted in His resurrection was that He broke the seal.
Someone say the seal.
He broke the seal.
An often overlooked part of the resurrection of Jesus and the empty tomb scene that for many of us is the familiar one is the seal.
But Matthew's Gospel includes the unique detail of Jesus's tomb being sealed with the official seal of burial.
This seal was a soft, moldable substance similar to one that you might see on those old letters, you know, with the, with the, with the, with the, with the red wax or clay.
It's, it's, it was a moldable substance that was imprinted with the Roman governor's signature or with, with, with his signet.
It was a very important thing and what, what they would do to some tombs at that time, if it was a high profile figure, okay, somebody, not everybody got this seal on their, on their tomb.
But if it was a high profile figure or somebody who had maybe a notorious reputation or was buried with a lot of treasure because people would raid the tombs and steal the treasures, they would put this Roman seal.
And it was an added layer of security.
It was as if to say, because of this seal, you are not allowed to trespass.
So this seal would be placed on the stone and then there would be a rope that was attached to that just kind of keeping it in its place.
And what made this seal so powerful was not his physical weight.
This is very different from the stone I just preached about a moment ago.
What makes this seal, this barrier powerful is not for its weight or its size.
It's not for its physical weight, but for its political weight, its governmental weight.
What made that seal so powerful is the same thing that makes the, you know, like a president's signature on a bill powerful, you know, or a signature on a check powerful.
It's, it's what it represents that makes it powerful.
And this seal carried the authority behind it, it had the authority of the Roman governor and that, like I said, it was meant to prevent anybody from tampering with the contents of that tomb.
And so this seal often overlooked in the retelling of the, of the resurrection of Christ is very significant.
And as I read in my opening text, the people as the Pharisees and those that buried Jesus when they sealed him, they put that seal on, they sealed it there with the seal of the governor.
And so that way, if anybody broke through, it would mean trouble for them.
That would mean if the seal was broken, the equivalent of the ancient Judea FBI and CIA would go out and try to find whoever was that broke this seal and bring them to justice.
And they would find those who are responsible if they were apprehended.
This is how serious it is.
If they found the people that broke the seal, they would be severely punished and many times they could be crucified upside down.
This is how important this seal is.
It's not just a little fixture, a little ornament, a little symbolic thing.
No, this is something that carried the weight of the Roman government behind it.
And so they put that seal upon that, that tomb as if to send a message to the world.
As if to send a message to the disciple, all those interested parties that this should not be touched.
Hands off.
You cannot touch this.
This person is going to stay buried.
Leave it alone.
Well, as I started looking up this seal and what it might represent for us, this seal symbolizes the spiritual barriers of the God of this world and the systems that seek to control us.
You see, in the same way that the Roman seal brought all of the power of the world and earthly authorities to bear, the same types of things try to block us from experiencing the power of God.
You have to understand that there is someone called the God of this world and he is Satan, the devil or Lucifer.
He is what the Bible calls the God of this world or the God of this age and the enemy through his worldly systems.
Follow me here today and all of his, all of his mechanics of control will do everything he can to keep you from experiencing the empty tombs power.
He will do everything within his power to keep people from knowing Jesus as the resurrected Lamb of God.
But what I have come to tell you is this.
That seal was broken when Jesus, my God, when he stepped out of the tomb, the authority of this world was broken.
Every burial of demonic dominion, every power and principality, everything that the devil could throw at us to keep us bound in fear and in shame and a life of sin.
Our God broke through the seal of this world.
So let it be known today that there is no devil in hell, there is no worldly power, there is no system or government that can stop you from knowing Jesus today.
Would you clap your hands and give God a praise?
Somebody shout hallelujah.
There is nothing we cannot say that there is a seal blocking well.
Let me tell you Jesus broke the seal.
There is no, as we were singing that song, holy to the Lamb a little while ago.
They're all thrones and dominions.
I felt the holy ghost when you all were singing it.
All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions are subject to the name of Jesus.
He sits on high and he looks low.
There is no throne that is higher than the throne of God.
Do I got a witness here today?
I said there is no throne that is higher than God.
The Bible says in Colossians 2, 15, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it.
This scripture is telling us that through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he disarmed.
Another translation says he stripped them of their power and the, my God, I get excited, of their authority.
And he triumphed over them.
There is, let me repeat for somebody today, there is no curse.
There is no devil in hell.
There is no spell.
There is no addiction.
There is no wish, no warlock, no black magic, no white magic, no devil, no demon that can stop you if you open up your heart today.
And say, God, I want your resurrection power and your love.
Somebody ought to praise him today.
Somebody ought to thank him today.
Hallelujah.
There is nothing that can get between you and that resurrection today.
There's nothing that can come between you and Jesus today because he broke the steel.
No power in the world can withstand the resurrected Christ.
He came to liberate us from the bondage of sin and we can break free from those chains today.
We can break the seal.
Someone say the seal.
Come on, say it.
Say the seal.
Say, it's been broken.
It's been broken.
So there's nothing, there is nothing that this world can do.
Jesus said, he said, I've overcome the world.
I said, in this world there will be trouble, but be of good cheer because I've overcome it.
Amen.
Somebody, he's overcome it.
And it's all through his resurrection and his power and his glory.
He came to deliver us from the seal of this world.
Oh, hallelujah.
Can we just thank God just for a moment?
Can you just so thank you, Jesus?
Thank you, God, for what you've done, Lord.
Hallelujah, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
There is no curse.
Some of you are dealing with things that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Some might call that a generational curse.
Whatever you call it, there is no curse and there is no chain that can stand against a resurrected Christ.
Even the demons tremble at his name.
Sometimes I wish the church of God would tremble at his name.
Oh, you don't want me to preach it.
Be nice, pastor.
No, I really do, because, you know, we talk about God as alive, but we don't praise him like he's alive sometimes.
Because he's alive, I think we ought to give him a living worship.
Oh, hallelujah.
I think we ought to give him a living praise today.
How many of you today are free?
How many of you today, oh, if the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed.
You can lift up your head.
You can lift up your voice.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I can worship him.
I can praise him.
And thirdly, there is one more barrier that stood between the outside world and the empty tomb.
One more barrier is that the barrier of the soldiers.
And we see that not only did Jesus break the barrier of the stone and the barrier of the seal, but he broke through the soldiers.
The final barrier here was the Roman guards that were stationed at the tomb.
The Roman guards that were assigned to watch the tomb.
And their job was to prevent anyone from tampering with, anyone from messing with or trying to access the body of Jesus.
And they were put there and they had a very important job, these Roman soldiers.
So much so that if they failed, they could lose their life.
There was a lot of writing on this.
And for some reason, someone got past them.
Not only yes, they could lose their life.
They could also lose their rank.
They could be demoted.
There was a lot of shame involved with not succeeding in their job.
And so they took this job very serious.
And so they stood there on watch in front of the tomb where Jesus laid.
For three days, he was there.
They stood there.
They were watching, looking out.
Maybe they took turns.
So one of us gets to sleep for a few hours and the other gets to stay up and just sort of make sure no one comes.
They were kind of like the security guards, the gatekeepers, making sure that people, if they get close, don't get too close.
You stay over there.
You stay on the other side of the line.
Think very much.
They've ever been told by security guards, excuse me.
Oh, I'm sorry.
You're going to the TSA agents.
God bless them.
If you get in the wrong line or you do something out of order, right away.
Get in order.
They take their job serious.
God bless them.
They got here.
But these Roman soldiers, it was life or death.
Life or death.
And so they're there guarding.
They're there making sure that, you know, and what they're doing, they kind of bring a human element.
Because the other two barriers I talked about was the barrier of the stone.
That's an inanimate object.
That's just, that's a stone, right?
Just a physical object.
And then you got the seal.
That's symbolic of the system.
But these are, this brings a human element into the equation now.
Now we've got some living, breathing people that sort of crowding around the tomb saying who can come and who can't.
Now we've got some people who feel like it's their job or it's their responsibility to, you know, to protect, to gate keep, and to restrict.
And so what we see here is unlike the others, there's a human element here.
And as such, these, these, these soldiers, they represent something.
Something you need to be aware of.
They represent the human barriers.
The human barriers.
The people, the relationships.
All right now, hallelujah.
Amen.
The critics, the opposition, those who, whether they realize it or not, because I'm not here to make them out to be a villain.
Sometimes it's unbeknownst to them.
They don't even realize that they're doing it.
But they're in some way or another standing in the way between you and a closer relationship with God, whatever that looks like.
Because for somebody here today, as I'm almost done, listen, for somebody here today, a closer relationship with the resurrected Jesus could be giving your life to him because now it's time to make that decision to be born again of the water and of the spirit.
Amen.
For somebody else, it could be making that next step in your relationship with God.
Maybe you pray and fast.
God bless you.
You're supposed to do that.
But maybe it's time to go beyond that and give more of God of your life.
But do you have some Roman soldiers around you that every time you get close to more of God, every time you get close to experiencing more of him and greater things, there seems to be a human element involved.
There seems to be people kind of crowding around you or people who are kind of waning on their opinions.
Well, I don't think you should do that.
It's just too much church, if you ask me.
You know, I was even asking for it.
But you know, sometimes people got an opinion.
You didn't even ask for it.
You're giving way too much time to that.
Or, you know, they don't even realize sometimes the things they say and sometimes, you know, we love them.
They can even be family members.
They can be anybody.
We're not here to make them the monster of the million of the story.
That's not what we're doing.
All I'm talking about today is that there could be some human elements, barriers standing between, or it could be somebody you don't want to disappoint.
Well, if I break from the pack, then I'm going to be kind of like, you know, on my little island over here and we don't want to ruffle feathers.
You know, we want Mom and Dad.
We want to make sure they approve everything that we're doing.
Make sure everyone's on board.
Well, God forbid we step out a little over here.
There's all kinds of psychological things happening and these barriers.
I'm talking about the human spirit right now.
I'm talking about human relationship and all these kind of barriers that kind of act as guards, kind of just sort of policing what is happening around more of God.
But I've come to tell you today that when Jesus rose from the grave, He not only broke through the barrier of the stone than God that He did.
But He broke through the human barrier of the soldiers as if to tell us today, there is no living soul.
There is no person that can stand between you and your future in God.
Oh, somebody give God some praise today.
There may be some people that are stationed in your life that are hindering your spiritual journey, whose own doubts and fears are preventing you from following Christ.
But when Jesus resurrected, He overcame the human opposition that stood out in front with their clipboards and policing everything that's going on.
Excuse me, but there is something greater on the inside that needs to come out.
There is a resurrected Savior.
And so the Bible says in Matthew 28 verse 4, the guards shook for fear of Him and they became like dead men.
God didn't kill them.
They became like dead.
They were so blown away by what they saw.
They passed out.
They blacked out.
Or maybe they even played dead.
I'm not sure.
It just said He made them like dead men.
But they fell over.
And when the soldiers fell over with fear, the angel told the women who were seeking Jesus, do not be afraid.
For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
For He is not here.
For He is risen.
As He said.
And listen to this.
Come.
Someone say come.
Say it again.
Say come.
I know there were some barriers there before.
But they're gone.
The stone is gone.
The seal is gone.
Even the soldiers are gone.
Or at least they're not paying attention.
So why don't you someone say come.
Come.
Come to the place where the Lord lives.
Where the Lord lay.
I came to tell somebody the same thing.
I came to tell you that He is risen.
He is risen.
Jesus is risen.
I came to tell you that He's risen.
I came to tell you hallelujah that the tomb could not hold Him.
That the stone could not stop Him.
That the seal could not keep Him.
And the soldiers could not block Him.
That there is no barrier and no obstacle.
That can hold you back today from experiencing the love.
The power and the grace of all mighty God.
Hallelujah.
Would you stand with me this afternoon today.
I've come today to preach to you Jesus.
And tell you that there is no greater hope.
There is no barrier blocking you today.
Every power, every dominion, every principality has been disarmed.
The only thing that could be standing between you and that empty tomb is just your own decision.
The only thing that could be standing between you and Jesus today.
You're saying but pastor I hear everything you're saying.
Thank you for that sermon that was nice.
You know maybe you know pastor that you know not reach your sermon about a five and a half or six.
I'm not sure if you'll come back.
It doesn't matter how you rate today's sermon.
You know you could say these things.
You could talk yourself out of it if you want to.
You can say well if they only had saying you know my other song that I really liked that that might you know.
You could say well this is just like you know that one day of the year where I can just.
Don't ask for too much more than that.
You can you can look like you can play this game in your mind all you want.
All I know is this that there is no barrier in heaven on earth or in hell that can stop you if you simply open up your heart.
This is what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 838.
I leave you with this verse before we pray.
He said for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers.
Hallelujah.
Nor things present nor things to come nor high nor death nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is nothing today that can separate you from God.