3 Days that Change Everything
Saturday and the Tomb of Christ
March 19 & 20, 2016
Revelation 8:1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
A. What happened on Saturday?
1. On Saturday Jesus is dead and ______.
John 19:38-39 AMP So (Joseph) came and took away His body. 39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, [weighing] about a hundred [Roman] pounds.
Matthew 27:62-66 62 (On Saturday) the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64 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." 65 "Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
It would take a ______ for Jesus body to be removed from that tomb.
2. On Saturday, Jesus’ disciples are scattered and ______.
Mark 14:27 LB "All of you will desert me," Jesus told them, "for God has declared through the prophets, 'I will kill the Shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.'
B. Being ______by the tomb of Christ and silent Saturdays.
1. When you face silent Saturdays, never give up ______.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
a. God is still at ______, even when he seems to be off the ______.
He was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. – The Apostle’s Creed
Ephesians 4:9 AMP Now what can this, “He ascended,” mean but that He had previously descended from [the heights of] heaven into [the depths], the lower parts of the earth?
1 Peter 3:19 NLT (After Christ died) He went and preached to the spirits in prison--
On Saturday, Jesus led a commando raid on Hell!
b. Some things that appear to be our greatest ______are actually the means of our
greatest ______.
John 16:20-22 NLT 20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to Me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy … 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
2. When you face silent Saturdays, never give up being ______.
Luke 9:46 NLT Then His disciples began arguing about which of them was the greatest.
Trust Christ, serve Christ, obey Christ … never stop seeking to walk faithfully with Him – even,
especially on ______.
Sooner or later He (God) withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience .... He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs… It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best … He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
- C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters