Resurrection

We are celebrating the resurrection here at Cross Connection Church. We are in 1st John chapter 1 together, so open with us as we consider what the empty tomb means for us. Amen. Good morning, Cross Connection Church! He is risen!

All right, Riley, again, He is risen! You guys got that one down. Anthony taught you well. Praise the Lord!

Hey, would you take out your Bibles this morning? Stay standing if you will. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Take out your Bibles and open them with me to the book of 1st John, which is in the New Testament. Open to the very last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, and just turn a few pages to the left. You'll find 1st John.

1st John chapter 1 is where we are going to be. I got some glasses to complete the ensemble here with these lights; it's helpful. Maybe we’ll play some golf later.

If you've been with us the last few weeks, you'll know this passage may be familiar. 1st John chapter 1, verse 1: John writes, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the word of life. The life was manifested, and we have seen it and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full."

Father, I think everyone here would agree this morning that we desire in our lives for our joy to be full. We do desire to experience what You speak of in the Gospel of John as abundant life. We see in the world around us...

We see in our own experience of this life that there is a lot of brokenness. The thief has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But You said, "I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly." You also told Your disciples that You wanted Your joy to be in them and our joy to be full. So, God, we pray that this would be among the outcomes of our getting to know You through Your Word. We ask that You would give us wisdom and insight as we consider this passage of Scripture today and as we celebrate this most important day. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

Of course, it is an important day, an important holiday—Easter Sunday. Many Christians like to refer to it more as Resurrection Sunday, the day in which we remember and celebrate the most important event for the church. There are nearly two billion people on this planet at this moment who are celebrating this most important event. It is the most important event for the church, but I believe it is also the most important event in all of human history.

What we are celebrating today began just a couple of weeks ago here at Cross Connection Church with a new series in the letter that John wrote, the Apostle John—the First Epistle of John. Though it is kind of normal when you come to a holiday like Easter to deviate or go away from the passage of Scripture that you're in and into a topical message, especially on the resurrection, I found that as I was thinking about this passage and praying about our gathering together here on Resurrection Sunday, this passage fits perfectly with the topic of resurrection.

A little bit of background on this letter and on the author who wrote it: John was one of the earliest followers of Jesus. He was among the group that we refer to as the Twelve Disciples or sometimes the Twelve Apostles. It is believed by Bible scholars that he was probably the youngest of that group. When he began following Jesus, it is very plausible that he was as young as 15 years old. He was the younger brother of...

Another one of Jesus's followers was a man named James. We see James and John together in the Scriptures quite a bit. James was the son of a man named Zebedee, and he, along with his brother John, was taking on the business of their father. They were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, which is still in Israel today. They partnered with another follower of Jesus, a man named Simon, who we typically refer to as Peter.

As we go through the Gospels, we see these three—Peter, James, and John—together quite often. They were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, and when they began to follow Jesus, it is important to remember that their motives were not the purest. This might come as a shock to some. After last week's service, several people approached me, saying they had never heard that perspective before regarding John or James.

It is not something I am forcing upon the text; it is clear when you read through the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—that these men, when they began following Jesus, were likely in their teenage years or just entering their twenties. They were just starting their lives, and they were not exactly the cream of the crop.

When Jesus came 2,000 years ago to the people in Israel, the entire nation was seeking an anointed, powerful political king who would redeem and rescue them. They wanted someone to destroy the Romans, who were occupying their land at that time, and restore Israel to its former glory, or even beyond. The people of that day were looking for an anointed one, which in Hebrew is referred to as the Messiah. In Jewish thinking at the time, there were three types of people...

Different groups were anointed ones who fulfilled the office of a messiah figure in ancient Judaism. One was the king; he was anointed, so he is a messiah figure. Then you have a prophet, who would also be anointed, making him a messiah figure. The priest is another messiah figure. They were all anointed.

The children of Israel's prophets had been predicting for more than a thousand years that one would come who would fill all of those offices—prophet, priest, and king—and would be anointed to come in and make Israel great again. That is what they were looking forward to. The Messiah was going to come, and these guys—Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, Thomas, and all the others—were expecting this. From the earliest days when they met Jesus, they were already saying he is the Messiah. They believed he was the Anointed One, so they formed his inner circle, his family.

They expected that because they were part of the inner circle of Jesus, if he was the Messiah, he would be the anointed king who would destroy the Romans and establish his kingdom. They thought they would be his close companions, and this would mean great things for them. They had huge expectations and anticipations of what that would mean for their future.

The culmination of that desire, or their belief that it was about to be fulfilled, happened on the day we celebrated last week, known as Palm Sunday. On that day, Jesus, with thousands of gathering pilgrims, came into Jerusalem to celebrate the most holy week in Israel, the week of Passover. As they were coming into Jerusalem from the east, down the Mount of Olives, through the Kidron Valley, and up into the city of Jerusalem, there were thousands of people gathered.

They saw this great man, who they had heard a lot about. He had been teaching and performing miracles, and there were all these stories circulating around the nation about Jesus of Nazareth. Here he came, riding in on a donkey. That may seem a little weird, but he was riding on a donkey, and they were putting palm branches in front of him as he came. They were singing the Old Testament Psalm, Psalm 118, which says, "This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." They shouted, "Hosanna," which means "save us now." "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" All the people were screaming.

Chanting and singing these words, you can imagine that there are Peter, James, John, and all these guys. They are walking, and they definitely have their orange pants on. They are walking as if this is it; by the end of the week, He is going to be crowned king, and they are going to be with Him.

As you go through the Gospels, you have to know that this is what was going through their minds. It begins to make sense when you understand this. This is why this group of guys argued continuously about who among them would be the greatest in the kingdom. That was their constant conversation: Who is going to be the greatest in His kingdom?

It makes sense why James and his brother John, the authors of the letter we are going through, came to Jesus at a certain point in His ministry. They knelt down before Him and said, "Listen, Master, we want You to do something for us." He asked, "What do you want Me to do for you?" They replied, "We want that when You come into Your kingdom, we can sit one on Your right hand and one on Your left hand."

It also makes sense why these two guys, James and John, thought it would be okay with the Messiah, the Anointed One who is going to destroy all of these enemies and establish the kingdom. They believed it might be acceptable for them, whom He nicknamed the Sons of Thunder, to call down fire upon the enemies of Israel in judgment.

Furthermore, it makes sense why these disciples asked Jesus, "Hey, what’s going to be our reward? What are we going to get when You come into Your kingdom? We left everything to come and follow You. We are the first employees of this industry right here, and the IPL is about to launch. We are employee number one, two, and three. What are we going to get? What’s the return for us? We’re vested. What are we going to get?"

I hope you’re getting the picture as you start to look through these things. Point number one on your sermon guide: the earliest disciples followed Jesus for lousy reasons. They really did. We might exalt them, venerate them, and lift them up high on a pedestal, but understand that when they first began to follow Jesus, they did not have the greatest reasons for doing so. If we’re totally honest...

Honest, the same could be said about us. Maybe at the beginning, we follow Jesus because we think that He will make our lives better. Perhaps we initially follow Jesus because we believe He will give us health, wealth, and prosperity. Certainly, some people say that when we first begin to follow Jesus, we do so because we don't want to go to hell. I can tell you that when I prayed to receive Jesus as a little kid, I was one of those Sunday School brats. I grew up in church, and I remember praying as a little kid, four or five years old. I prayed to receive Jesus because the alternative was that I didn't want to go to hell.

Now, I want to suggest that this is not necessarily a bad thing. It might be a good place to start, but I also want to say that that kind of beginning faith doesn't really have staying power through difficulty. Jesus talks about this in one of His parables, the parable of the sower. He mentions that some of the seed falls on shallow ground. When the sun comes up, it burns it out. He explains that the sun represents trials. The seed that falls on shallow ground springs up quickly; they rejoice, saying, "I want to receive Jesus because I don't want to go to hell." However, when things get rough, they start to question their faith.

Some of us follow Jesus because our lives are a mess, and we think Jesus is going to make our lives better. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it may not lead to a faith that carries you through difficulties. I would suggest that when you follow the story of the disciples, you realize that their initial trust in Jesus was not enough to carry them through some of the challenges they faced.

At this point, I think it would be okay for you to wonder what this has to do with Easter. Don't worry; I'll get there, I promise. All of Jesus's earliest followers—James, John, and Bartholomew—first began following Him without fully comprehending who He really was or what He came to do. They had expectations, assumptions, and even presumptuous views about what that would mean for them, what kind of privileges they would receive, what possessions they might gain, and what kind of fame they could achieve when they first began to follow.

Jesus may not have had the best reasons or motivations behind following him, and just when it seemed like everything was about to take off in a good way, everything completely fell apart. Immediately after that Palm Sunday experience, Jesus came down into Jerusalem, and people were screaming, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

The first thing Jesus did, as recorded in Matthew's Gospel, was to go into the temple and perform what is called the cleansing of the temple. He drove out all the people who were buying and selling because some of the temple grounds had become like a swap meet. Jesus drove all these people out of the temple, which really angered the religious establishment.

Over the next couple of days, as recorded in Matthew chapters 22 and 23, Jesus effectively picked a fight with all the ruling leadership in Jerusalem. He got into conflict with the Herodians, who were loyal to King Herod, as well as the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. In Matthew chapter 23, he spoke a word of condemnation upon the Pharisees, saying, "You guys are hypocrites," no less than seven times. He declared that they were not righteous, and then he dropped the mic and walked out of the temple.

His disciples were a little concerned about this. You can follow this in the book of Matthew, from chapter 23 into chapter 24. They came up to him and said, "But Lord, look at the temple! Look how beautiful it is!" He replied, "Listen, I tell you the truth, not one stone is going to be left upon another; all will be torn down. It's all going to fall apart." That prediction he made in about 30 AD actually came to pass fully and completely forty years later when the Romans destroyed the temple.

He said, "You see all this? It's all going to be broken down." Then, about 24 hours later, Jesus gathered with his group, his twelve disciples, to partake of the Passover. The mood changed, and he became quite somber. The disciples were concerned about this, and he began to say things like, "One of you is going to betray me." He added, "All of you are going to be made to stumble because of me tonight." They spoke up, saying, "We would never do that! We will die with you!" The one who was really leading the charge was Peter. Jesus said to Peter, "You're going to deny me three times before morning."

No, that would never happen. Though everybody else denies You, I would never do that. Then, a few hours later, He is betrayed by one of His disciples. Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. All of His disciples flee, and Peter denies Him three times. He is arrested, beaten, falsely accused, condemned, and then crucified. On Good Friday, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on a Roman cross outside of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. The only one of His twelve disciples who was there to witness it was John, who writes this letter. He watches all of this happen. By sundown, Jesus's lifeless body is taken down from the cross and buried in a newly cut hewn tomb out of the rock, laid to rest.

What happened to the inner circle, the twelve? Peter, James, John, Bartholomew—"We will die with You." Jesus says to James and John when they asked, "Can we sit on Your right and on Your left?" They replied, "We can do it."

Point number two on your outline: when Jesus died, the earliest followers fled in fear. None of the Apostles showed up to bury their friend. He was buried by two secret disciples—people who had begun to follow Jesus but couldn't do so openly because they were afraid of what it might mean for their positions as leaders in Israel. One of them was a wealthy man named Joseph of Arimathea, who had the tomb that Jesus was placed in when He died. The second was a man named Nicodemus, who incidentally came to Jesus by night in John chapter 3. These two secret disciples are the ones who showed up and went to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and said, "Can we have the body of Jesus to bury Him?" But Peter wasn't there, John wasn't there, and James wasn't there. Bartholomew and Thomas—where were they?

Guys, where were the ones who said we can drink of the cup that you're going to drink of? Where were the ones who said, "Even if we have to die with you, we will not deny you"?

On the Sunday following the crucifixion of Jesus, two of His disciples, as told in Luke chapter 24, decided to go home. They felt that their hopes were crushed because Jesus was dead. They were leaving Jerusalem and heading towards a village called Emmaus when the Risen Jesus appeared to them, though they did not recognize Him. For some reason, they couldn't see that it was Him. They said to Jesus, "This Jesus of Nazareth was crucified three days ago, and we had hoped that He was the Messiah. We hoped that He would rescue Israel, but He has been dead for three days, and our hopes are gone."

So, why do I bring all this up? What does this have to do with Easter? I mention this because the earliest followers of Jesus followed Him for what we might call baser reasons—ignoble motivations, not the best reasons. They started following Jesus because they had expectations of greatness, and all of those expectations of greatness died with Jesus on the cross. Their presumptuous play for power and privilege, being close to Him, was crushed when Jesus died.

Here’s the question: Why, when everything fell apart and these men fled in fear, didn’t they just go home? Why didn’t they return to their lives, their fishing businesses, and business as usual before they had met Jesus? How is it that these same fearful deniers, who hid in fear while others buried their friend, later became the most bold and powerful evangelists of the good news of Jesus Christ? Nearly every one of them was later executed as martyrs, declaring to their deaths this great truth about Christ.

What could have changed? What possibly happened? What does this have to do with Easter? I suggest it has everything to do with Easter. Point number three on your outline: the resurrection is the only plausible explanation for the transformation of the disciples. I realize that's a lot, so we'll leave it up on the screen for a moment. The resurrection of Jesus is...

The only plausible explanation for the transformation of the disciples is what changed them from cowering in fear, fleeing for their lives, and being scared to death of the religious leaders. A month and a half later, they stood before the same religious leaders and proclaimed, "He has risen again, He whom you crucified." What changed? The only thing that could explain that transformation is that three days after the death of Christ on a cross outside of Jerusalem, they saw Him alive, and it transformed everything.

So much so that now, 60 years have passed when John writes this letter. About 60 years have gone by, and John is a very old man now. He writes this letter of encouragement to the church after he had watched his friend be arrested, beaten, crucified, and buried. John writes this letter 60 years later. During those 60 years, all of John's close friends—his brother James, Peter, Andrew, Thomas—have all died by this point. He is the last one, and most of those guys died in horrific ways. All of them were taken to their death saying, "We have seen a man who was crucified and dead alive."

James, the brother of John, was the first of the twelve to be martyred for his faith. It is recorded in the Bible in Acts chapter 12, verse 2, that James was killed by King Herod by beheading, about 12 years after Jesus had died on the cross and rose from the dead. Not just James, but Andrew, Peter's brother and John's good friend, who grew up together in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, was crucified in what we call Turkey today.

Thomas was pierced through with spears after he had taken the gospel to India. Philip took the gospel to northern Africa, where he was arrested and tortured to death. Matthew, who wrote the Gospel of Matthew, took the gospel to modern-day Iran and then to Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, church tradition holds that he was stabbed to death for his faith in Christ. James, the son of Alphaeus, ministered in modern-day Syria, where he was stoned and clubbed to death. Simon the Zealot...

Peter was a minister in Persia, Iran, and he was killed for refusing to sacrifice to the Sun God. His good friend and partner in business, John, was crucified in the city of Rome around 64 AD by Nero Caesar. Church tradition holds that when Peter was taken to be crucified, he said, "I can't possibly be killed in the same manner as my Lord," and so he requested to be crucified upside down.

Paul the Apostle, although not one of the twelve, was also a witness of the Risen Jesus. He was beheaded a short time after Peter by Nero in Rome. The resurrection is the only plausible explanation for the transformation of the disciples.

Many people in our day, what we might call modernists or postmodernists, certainly humanists, express skepticism about the resurrection. They often say, "I'm fine with you believing whatever you believe," because we live in a relativistic culture that promotes the idea of "you believe what you believe, and I'll believe what I believe." They advocate for living and letting live, leaving each other alone. They might say, "You can do your church thing; I just don't believe that."

The reason they give for their disbelief is often rooted in science. They argue that people who die don't come back to life, so they find the resurrection implausible. They claim not to believe in miracles, even though more than one-third of Americans—approximately 330 million people—believe they have personally experienced a miracle. Our society often asserts that there is no such thing as a miracle, despite medical science documenting actual miracles. These are often recorded in medical charts as a "spontaneous resolution" because the term "miracle" doesn't sound scientific.

When asked what happened, they might say, "It spontaneously resolved itself." However, I am a believer in science, and to me, the resurrection seems implausible. It is important to note that it was just as implausible to the disciples two thousand years ago. Jesus told them on at least three occasions in the Gospels that He would rise again on the third day. He predicted His death by crucifixion and His resurrection three days later at least three times in Matthew's Gospel.

Recorded in Matthew 16:21-23 and 20:19, every time Jesus spoke about His death and resurrection, His disciples became confused. Let me give you an example from Mark 9:9. Peter, James, and John were with Jesus on a mountain in Jerusalem, and Jesus was glorified before them in an awesome experience. As they were coming down from this mountaintop experience, Jesus had a conversation with them. We read in Mark 9:9 that as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one of these things that they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. He instructed them not to tell anybody about this until He rose from the dead.

So, they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. Peter, James, and John were perplexed, wondering what He was talking about regarding rising from the dead. In the same chapter, Mark 9:31, Jesus taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. After He is killed, He will rise again the third day." However, in verse 32, we see that they did not understand this saying and were afraid to ask Him.

It was as if Jesus said, "I'm going to die; I'm going to rise again the third day," and they all responded with confusion, thinking, "What is He talking about? I don't know; you ask Him." Why were they confused about this? The concept of a bodily resurrection was not part of Jewish belief. They did not know or believe in a bodily resurrection; it was completely foreign to them.

While the resurrection might seem implausible to our modern thinking, it was just as implausible to the disciples 2,000 years ago. However, it is no more implausible than the transformation that took place in them three days after the crucifixion. Virtually all skeptical historians and scholars in the last century have agreed on this. Do the research; go read the studies. I have read the research. Virtually all of the skeptical historians, including one of the most noted, Bart Ehrman, a former Christian who has recanted his faith and has a problem with miracles, acknowledges that as a historian, it is very clear that the disciples saw or had some experience with a resurrected Jesus after His crucifixion.

So, why does Bart not believe in Christ?

Because he doesn't want to, not because the evidence doesn't support the resurrection. The evidence supports the resurrection. Sixty years later, John, after all of his friends died professing to their deaths that Christ had raised from the dead, says in 1 John chapter 1, verse 2, "Life was manifested." That has made clear, revealed. Life was manifested, and we—who's the "we"? The twelve disciples—we have seen it and we bear witness and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, God, was manifested to us. What is a greater manifestation of eternal life than that a man dies and rises again three days later? Life was manifested to us. That which we have seen, verse 3, and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. These things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Point number four: There is no eternal life, fullness of joy, and fellowship with the Father without resurrection. You see, there are some people who say, "Listen, the Christian faith, even apart from the resurrection, is still good because it's a good philosophy that leads to a good life." I want to suggest to you that there is no eternal life, no fullness of joy, and no fellowship with the Father without resurrection.

Actually, it's even bigger than that. To show you how important this thing that we celebrate on this day is, you're in 1 John. Turn to the left, maybe about fifty pages or so, and you're going to find a book called Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter 15. I want you to turn there so you see this because it's so very important. First Corinthians chapter 15 was written about fifteen years after Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead. It was written by the Apostle Paul, who had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus, as it's recorded in Acts chapter 9, as he was on his way to the city of Damascus in Syria to persecute Christians. He did not believe in the resurrection and could not stand to see his Jewish brothers and sisters begin to follow this Jesus of Nazareth on the testimony of the disciples who said that Jesus rose from the dead. So, Paul did not believe that the bodily resurrection was a thing, and so he's...

Going to try to destroy Christians, he has an encounter with the resurrected Jesus, and his life does a full 180. The guy who formerly tried to persecute Christians now becomes the greatest preacher of the gospel that we have ever heard of. He writes in First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 1: "Moreover, brethren, I want to declare to you the gospel, the good news which I preached to you. This is the message that I declare, which also you received, in which you stand, and by which you are also saved. This is the message that brings salvation."

Paul says, "If you hold fast to the word which I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain." In verse 3, he continues, "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received." This is the message that I received from others, and this is the message that I received from Christ: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

This text is not original to Paul; it was a creed of the early church that historians believe was being spoken by the church within six months of the resurrection. "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, and he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

He said, "Okay, that sounds really good, but were there witnesses?" Well, look at what he goes on to say in verse 5: "He was seen by Cephas," that's Peter, "and then by the twelve. After that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at one time, of whom the greater part remain until this present time," meaning you can go and investigate these things in Paul's day to find out if they were true, "but some have died or fallen asleep."

After that, he was seen by James, that's the half-brother of Jesus, who was a skeptic of Jesus before the crucifixion. "After that, he was seen by James and then by all the apostles. Last of all, he was seen by me, Paul, as one born out of due time."

So here's the message: Paul says Christ died on a cross, historically verifiable, was placed in a tomb after his crucifixion, and three days later, the tomb was empty. More than five hundred people saw him alive after his death. That's the message.

Skip down to verse 12, First Corinthians 15:12: "Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?"

Well, listen, we've advanced so far beyond the people who lived in the first century. We don't believe in resurrections, and neither did they. We're not all that progressive. We see people die; we see people buried. They don't come back to life. That's why it's so phenomenal.

Paul says, "I've been preaching, Peter's been preaching, John's been preaching. We've all been preaching that Jesus rose from the dead." Now, if people don't rise from the dead, how is it that we saw Him after His death? That's what he's saying. If Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some of you among us say that the resurrection of the dead doesn't happen?

But, verse 13 states, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ isn't risen." So, if no one rises, then Jesus didn't rise. If Christ is not risen, then our proclamation, our preaching, is empty, and your trust, your faith, is empty. Yes, we are found to be liars, false witnesses of God, because we have testified that God raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up if, in fact, the dead do not rise.

For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. If Christ is not risen, your faith is empty, futile, and you are still in your sins. Also, those who have fallen asleep or died have just perished. Then, in verse 19, Paul says, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable."

Paul emphasizes that if there is no resurrection, the Christian faith as a philosophy is dead, and we are to be pitied if we believe there is a resurrection and He didn't, in fact, rise. Paul is putting everything on the resurrection.

Skip down to verse 32, because this is amazing to me. In the middle of verse 32, he says, "If the dead do not rise, what's the implication of that? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." If there is no resurrection, you might as well just be a hedonist because this life is all there is. That's Paul's conclusion.

Point number five on your outline: If there is no resurrection, then there is no point to Christianity. That's how serious this resurrection thing is. If there's no resurrection, there's no point.

To Christianity, everything about the Christian faith rises and falls on the empty tomb. The disciples, three days after the crucifixion and burial, proclaimed unto their deaths that the tomb was empty and that they had encountered the risen Christ. If there is no resurrection, then you might as well just hang it up on this whole Christianity thing and this going to church thing, where that is concerned. If there is no resurrection, this is all a complete waste of time.

However, the early followers of Jesus, who immediately after the crucifixion fled in fear, three days later became the most bold evangelists, proclaiming, "We have seen alive a man who was dead." So what's the implication of that? The implication is that everything Jesus said is true. If Christ Jesus rose from the dead, as Christians for the last 2,000 years have believed on the eyewitness testimony of the earliest followers of Jesus—who were tortured and killed because of their proclamation that he was alive—then when Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God but by me," he was speaking the truth.

If Jesus rose from the dead, which is what Christians believe, then when Jesus said in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," he was speaking the truth. That's why he would turn to the woman he was speaking to and say, "Do you believe this?" Do you trust that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures?

If you do, and if it's true—which I believe it is based on that eyewitness testimony of more than 500 witnesses—then in him is life and that more abundantly. In him is fellowship with God and with one another, and fullness of joy forever. That's really good news, and that's why the church is so excited about this.

The resurrection thing is significant because if He lives, then we can live also. Amen. Would you stand with me as we close? Lord, we believe that when we stand like this, close our eyes, and speak, we are not just speaking into the air. We are actually communicating with the One who is the Messiah, the Anointed One, who is not dead. The tomb is empty. The angels on that Resurrection Sunday said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is risen."

So, Lord, we are speaking and praying to the Living God, seated upon a throne. Because of Your death on the cross, our sins can be taken care of. We can be forgiven, receiving Your grace, and we can be given life—the life that was manifested, that eternal life that was with the Father, is manifested to us so that we can have a relationship with You, God, and with one another. We can have fullness of joy.

Lord, we thank You for what Your grace gives to us in the cross and in the resurrection. The empty tomb brings us joy today. As we stand here this morning, this may be the first time that this message has clicked for you. Maybe you've heard it before, or perhaps you've never heard it before, but it has clicked for you today. If you would like to receive that gift of grace and forgiveness that Jesus gives, remember that He died for our sins in our place. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we could be given righteousness from Him to be right with God.

If you would like to receive His pardon and His forgiving grace, I will lead you in a prayer of faith, confession, and commitment. The Scriptures say that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. If you'd like to do that today, please join me.

I want to lead you into a relationship with God. As we are in an attitude of prayer, would you lift up your hand this morning if that's you? Is there anyone here this morning who says, "I want to receive that grace and that forgiveness"? Lift up your hand high. I see you over here. God bless you. In the back, I see a couple of you. Anyone else? I see you back there. God bless. Lift up your hand high. Praise the Lord! I see you.

For those of you who are lifting your hands right now, I just want to lead you in a very simple prayer of confession and faith, asking the Lord to forgive you by His grace. He promises to do that and to give you a new life in Christ. That doesn't mean that every one of your problems goes away, but the biggest problem we all have goes away in that instance: the problem of sin and death.

So if that's you, just follow along with me and pray this prayer aloud:

"Dear Jesus, I confess that you are alive, and I pray that you would forgive me of my sin. I ask that you would come into my life by your Spirit, that you would give me new life and fullness of joy. Help me to follow you by faith and to trust you with my life."