It is Easter... The day that we celebrate the resurrection ... of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
A time when Alleluias fill the air: Beloved ... You know the response:
Alleluia Christ is Risen...... (Pause) The Lord is Risen in Deed Alleluia.
There is a story that I love so well ... that speaks to the amazement... of that first Easter Day.
A Sunday School teacher had just finished telling her third graders ... how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb ...... with a great stone sealing the opening.
Then, ...... wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: ....... "And what do you think were Jesus' first words ... when He came out of that tomb?"
A little girl in the back of the room shot her arm into the air ... and leaped to her feet and shouted excitedly ....... "I know, I know!"
"Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, Janey .... what did he say."
Extending both of her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA!" (Pause)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was indeed for the world ...... a "TA-DA".
It has touched the lives of countless believers .... throughout the ages.
Yes, ...... "TA DA" ... Christ is Risen (Pause)
On Easter day ... Christ came out of the tomb and into our lives ...... with power and victory.
The gospel of the resurrection ... is an indisputable fact, ...... an indispensable faith, ...... and an irresistible force.
We have hope ... through the resurrection.
Yet often that hope ...... is not fully realized ... until we come face to face .... With the reality.... of our own ... mortality. (Pause)
Beloved ... we are not in the land of the living ...... going to the land of the dying. We are in the land of the dying ...... trying to get to ...... the land of the living". REPEAT
Many ask the ancient question ... that Job asked so long ago: ......"If a man dies, shall he live again?" REPEAT (Job 14:14)
That is One of the most important questions ...... that we could ever ask, ......for life ...... is our most precious possession.
Jesus said, ...... " For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world ... and forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36).
So ...... If a man dies, ... shall he live again?
It is not until we have confidence ...... of living beyond the grave...... that this life ...... will take on...... ultimate meaning ... and purpose.
Our Text from Corinthians state: BIBLE " If in Christ we have hope for this life only, .... we are of all people ...... to be pitied." END 1 Corinthians 15:19
The longer you live, .... the more you realize ......that life is moving ... so very quickly.
And the end is futile ...... if there is no hope ...... beyond the grave.
Beloved ....... The good news is ...... that the resurrection of Jesus Christ ....... provides answers ...... to the question ... of life after death.
In John Masefield's drama ...... The Trial of Jesus, ...... there is a striking passage ... in which the Roman centurion ... in command of the soldiers at the cross ... comes back to Pilate ... to hand in his report ... of the day's work.
After the report is given, ... Pilate's wife beckons to the centurion ...... and begs him to tell ... how the
prisoner died.
When he finished telling the story, she suddenly asks, ...... "Do you think He is dead?"
"No, my lady" answers the centurion, ..."I do not."
Then where is He?"
To which the Roman replies, ...... "Let loose in the world, my lady, ... where no one ...... can stop His truth."
If a man dies, ... shall he live again?
Is there life after death?
The answer is an emphatic and glorious yes, ... and the resurrection of Jesus Christ ... is the proof.
The Old Testament Scriptures ...... prophesied that the Messiah ... was going to die.
That he would be led like a sheep ...... to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53:7)
So Jesus' death ... was not the accidental death.... of a martyr.
It was the deliberate death ...of a person who offered His life ...... as a sacrifice.
Our heavenly Father, ...... in his tender mercy, ...... gave his only Son .... Jesus Christ ...... to suffer death upon the cross ... for our redemption.
He offered himself and made, ...... once for all time, ...... a perfect and sufficient sacrifice ...... for the sins ...... of the whole world. (Pause)
A woman wrote Dr. J. Vernon McGee: ... "Our preacher said that on Easter, ....... Jesus just swooned on the cross .......and that the disciples ... nursed Him back to health.
What do you think?"
McGee replied, "Dear sister, ......beat your preacher with a leather whip with 39 heavy strokes, ...... nail him to a cross, ......hang him in the sun for six hours, ......run a spear through his side......, put him in an airless tomb for three days, ... and see what happens!"
The Old Testament Scriptures ....... Are clear ... God the father....... would not allow the Holy One ......to undergo decay.
Jesus was laid in a borrowed tomb. ...... For He ... was not staying permanently.
He was raised... he was resurrected ... from the dead. (Pause)
One night during the Easter Pageant, ...... there was young boy who was enthralled ....... with the story.
When the crucifixion scene took place.... he became very quiet.
But when Jesus came back from the grave......The little boy's eyes lit up ... he looked at his mother...... and loudly proclaimed, ......Mom....... He's alive!"
And he began to clap ....and he hugged his mother around her neck.
It is so powerful .... to see someone ...... come to understand the resurrection ....... for the first time.
When the women went to the tomb to anoint His body, ......they discovered ... the tomb was empty.
The angel said, ...."Why do you seek the living ...... among the dead? ... He is not here, .... He is risen, ....... just as He said " (Luke 24:5)
Now Paul said emphatically, ... We know Jesus is alive, ...... because We ......have seen Him.
Peter too saw Him alive. ...... He ate breakfast with Him ....and spoke with Him.
The disciples saw Him alive in the upper room ....... when suddenly Jesus appeared and said, ....... "See the nail prints in my hands ....... See the wound in my side. " (John 20:27)
We are told that the risen Lord also appeared to a group....... numbering 500 men and women. (1 Corinthians 15:6)
If we listened to the testimony ...... of all the people that Jesus appeared to, ...... we would be here all day, and all night, ...... Monday and Monday night ...... Tuesday ... Wednesday ...... Thursday ... and sometime early Friday morning .... they would be finishing their testimonies.
It would take over 128 straight hours just to hear, a 15minute testimony ... from those that saw ... the risen Lord.
Jesus Christ demonstrated that there is life after death.... And there weren't only one or two witnesses ......
Beloved .... there were hundreds.
In his letter to the Church in Corinth Paul seems a little perplexed why people even ask the question.
BIBLE "Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, ....... how can some of you say, ...... 'There is no resurrection of the dead'?" END (1 Corinthians 15:12).
We have the eyewitness testimony of those who saw the risen Lord.
We have the testimony of millions of people .... whose lives have been changed ......over the centuries ....... by the risen Christ.
And we have the Holy Spirit ....... convicting us ...... ...that Jesus is alive ....... that Jesus is risen. (Pause)
Winston Churchill chose to accept the truth of the resurrection.
In fact, ....... before he died...he arranged his own funeral.
There were stately hymns ......in St. Paul's Cathedral ....... and an impressive ... liturgy.
After they said the benediction, ......he had arranged for a bugler ...... high in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on one side to play "Taps," ...... the universal signal .... that the day is over.
But when that was finished, ...... there was a long period of silence .... then a bugler on the other side played .... "Reveille," ......the signal ... of a new day beginning.
It was Churchill's way of sharing ...... that while we say "Good night" .... on this side of eternity, ......it is "Good morning" ...... on the other side!
The angel moved the stone ...... to reveal an empty tomb ....... and a risen Christ.
And ever since, ...... mankind has been trying .... to roll that stone back!
Beloved... Stand firm in the truth .... of a glorious life after death ...... a glorious eternal life ... for those ...... who are in Christ Jesus.
You cannot pay for or earn eternal life.
You cannot be good enough ... holy enough to receive eternal life.
Heaven is the dwelling place of God, ...... a place of perfection, ....... a place of Holiness ...... and we have forfeited our right to be there .... Due to our sin.
The only purchase price ... is the blood of a perfect person, ...... a holy person....and you and I ......do not qualify.
You cannot earn it. ....... You have to ... receive it.
You have to believe it ... you have to confess it.
Now, ... I can only think of two reasons ... why anyone would refuse ... such a glorious offer.
For some ...... it is a Love of sin ...... for others ... it is personal pride.
In a sense ......eternal life ....... does not cost you anything,
Yet ...... in another sense ....it costs you everything.
The Scriptures tell us that we are to repent of our sins, .... put our trust in Christ, ...and confess Him...... as our Savior ... and as the Lord of our life.
Yet some are so in love with this world ...... that they cannot give it up.
For them ... death will be "Taps." ....... It will not be ...... "Reveille."
Some believe that they have earned the right for eternal life ...... that they are good enough ...... to receive eternal life.
They believe that if the weight of their good things out ways the bad things ... that they will enter into heaven.
Beloved ... that is a doctrine straight from the pits of hell.
It is in our nature as human beings ...... to want to extend life ...... as long as possible.
Death is our enemy.... Death entered the world through sin. And is destroyed ... by Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:26)
Beloved we cannot be good enough ...we cannot be holy enough.... It is only by grace ... through faith ... that we receive ... salvation.
Hear God's Word: BIBLE "For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift ... not from works, ... so that no one can boast" END (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Beloved ...... The most important lessons in life are wrapped up in three short statements:
Life is short.... Death is certain ...... Eternity is forever. REPEAT
BIBLE If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ... and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead... You will be saved. END (Romans 10:9)
In a BC comic strip.... Two women are sitting on a small hill.
One is reading the Bible and says, ... "Oh, my goodness. . . Says here. . . Jesus descended ... into hell!"
The other is shocked and says, ... "You're kidding!"
Then the woman with the Bible says, ... "Oh, no ... Not to stay!
He just dropped in ... to cancel ... our reservations!" (Pause)
For Those who are in Jesus Christ.... The future is no longer dark.
The future is no longer unknown.
That knowledge ... that promise ...... should affect the way we live.
That knowledge ... that promise ...... should affect the way ... we face the question ... of the six-foot hole.
Beloved ...... we know that death has been defeated. ...... That Jesus reigns.
We are a resurrection people.
We are an Easter people!
Beloved join me in the Easter acclamation once more:
Alleluia Christ is Risen
(Motion to the Congregation) ......The Lord is risen indeed Alleluia!
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