Intro: For those of you who don’t normally attend church with us, I usually don’t dress this way for Sunday Morning Services. I get all dressed up twice a year for Sunday morning services, Easter and Christmas. Speaking of dressing up I spoke with a guy the other day who said he’s not dressing up anymore. No more dressing up, matter of fact he said there is no more cleaning up for him, he was done. Not going to shower, not going to bathe, not going to wash. I thought well this guy is crazy until he explained himself then I understood. You want to hear hi reasons for not bathing? Here they are: 1) my parents forced me to wash as a child and now I resent it. 2) People who wash are hypocrites they think they’re cleaner than everybody else. 3). There are so many different kinds of soaps I can’t decide which one is best. 4). I used to wash then I got board so I stopped. 5). None of his friends washed, I understood that. 6). I start washing when I get older and dirtier and don’t have better things to do. 7) You know those people who make soap? Their only after your money. So I talked to him about the importance of good hygiene and worked with him until I finally convinced him to wash but he said, I’ll only wash on Christmas and Easter. Now of course that’s a joke no one really thinks like that; do they? Well, even if you do we’re glad you’re here, especially glade you’re here this year because right now is a good time in our church, God has been doing some awesome things among us.
Easter is not just a historical event, if you don’t view Easter as something that has significant meaning to your future then you’ve missed the meaning entirely.
The whole concept of Easter is a confident hope of our future – a definite event that will occur in our life.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
We need to realize that Jesus can do something that you and I desperately need. And that’s what Easter is all about; it’s us realizing that Christ has given us the confidence that we can be raised form the dead. To properly understand the resurrection necessitates that we think about it in its proper context, which is against the backdrop of negative circumstances. You see resurrection doesn’t mean anything unless we’re talking about death. There is a problem that most of us need to come to grips with and that is the fact that this life is going to end. We must understand that this problem that we have to deal with is what the Bible is warning us to get straight in our life. This life is temporary; as George Bernard Shaw put it, “The mortality statistics are staggering – one in one people die”. It is a problem that all of us must step back from and ask, what is God’s solution for this?
The Bible teaches us that we die because we have a sin problem that we’re born with that is called the sin nature. And God is a God who says “I will solve that problem”, “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 3:26). God raised Jesus out of the grave to show us that He can deal with this problem.
Illustration: Hope is a funny thing. It comes so easy to some people--maybe too easy. Milton Berle told a story about those kinds of people, about how hope can triumph over good sense.
Four widows were playing cards in the retirement home they lived in. A good-looking older fellow walks in, bags under each arm. "What’s a good-looking man like you doing here?" one asks.
"I’m moving in," he says. "Oh," says another. "Where ya from?"
"I’ve been in the can the last fifteen years. "
"The can?" they ask.
"Yeah, the can, the clink, the slammer, the state penitentiary."
"Oh," says one. "What did you do?"
"I murdered my wife. I cut her up and buried her in the back yard." There follows a long pause, and then one of them pipes up:
"Oh, so you’re single!"
We must be careful not to put our hope in the wrong thing.
Contentment cannot be found in this world just ask the people who boarded a ship who’s middle name was contentment. Our text goes on to say that our future has nothing to do with contentment and safety. Chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians begins with the fact when people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman…” Now I’ve never been pregnant as you could probably guess. But the Bible is giving us a metaphor to help us understand that death is going to be bad for some, but for those in Christ it’s just a passage way into a whole new life.
This ship that I just spoke of was the largest movable object that man had ever made. Sixty-six thousand tons, it took up four city blocks, each of its four steam engines was the size of a three-story house. The people that boarded that ship in 1912 were so confident and the papers were hailing this ship as the unsinkable ship. It was not only the largest passenger ship that had ever been built it was also the most luxurious by far. As a matter of fact, the people who built it were so confident of its sea worthy nature that they only tested it for eight hours on the Atlantic Ocean. When it came time for this great ship to set sail from South Hampton in England to New York people boarded it with a sense of confidence in that ship like no other. The first class passengers paid an equivalent to $50,000 to travel on this ship. Of course you know what ship I’m talking about, the Titanic. Their confidence had little to do with their future. Because as you well know it sank on it’s maiden voyage when it struck an iceberg that knocked a 300ft tear down the side of the ship on April 15th 1912. This past week marks the 91st year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. This event caught everyone by surprise; even the people on the ship while it was sinking didn’t believe it was really sinking. As the first life boats were let down they weren’t even full because people refused to get in them. The first life boat that was dropped from the Titanic contained only 27 people which was only about a third of it’s capacity. People could not bring themselves to step off of what they thought was this enormous unsinkable ship onto a little lifeboat.
Everything in our time and culture is so good that we are loaded with confidence in worldly things. Even after 911 and the War in Iraq we seemed to be un-phased and undaunted. We as a country pray fervently in the moment of crises then when God delivers us we come out on the other side saying, “well look at what we did”. The Bible makes it clear that we’re all to understand that all of us will have to cross over the thresh-hold of eternity whether it is by the natural process of death or by the coming of the Lord. And if we do not pin our hopes on the resurrection of Jesus Christ then we do not have any hope. Our text clearly says that we should not live like those who have no hope. The reality of Easter is that it is hope held out to those who are on a sinking ship.
IT TAKES FAITH
What does it take to step on a lifeboat? It takes a lot of faith. Can you imagine stepping off of the deck of a massive ship into a little wavering, tottering lifeboat? But that is exactly what it is like for a person to step off of everything they’ve believed about their future and step into a relationship with Christ. To be willing to step into a lifeboat you’ve got to be willing to say that the ship that you’re on is sinking. And to say that the lifeboat will float and I won’t unless I get in it. It’s a big step to turn from everything that I’m trusting in now and thinking that everything is going to be Ok to saying no I can’t make this without Christ. I’m not just talking about making it thru life without Christ I’m talking about making thru the threshold of eternity without Christ.
You see the problem with some people is they think they can have one foot on the ship and one foot in the lifeboat and everything is going to work out. There are some of you here this morning who are playing that game – I like some of the things about Christianity but I’ve got my foot planted firmly on the boat as well because there are still some things I like about it as well. That doesn’t work anymore than it was possible for someone to keep one foot on the Titanic and in a lifeboat and survive. You have to turn from the Captain, Captain Smith of the Titanic when down with the ship. He was no help to anyone anymore once the ship began to sink, in order to survive people had to trust the people with the ors out in the lifeboats. There are some here this morning because of the draw and the security of the ship you’ve had a hard time stepping into the lifeboat.
The Bible speaks of darkness as Lostness and light as salvation. It was about one in the morning when the first lifeboat was being dropped into the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Some people were asleep in their rooms when they felt the jar of the iceberg they just rolled over and went back to sleep. Some people were inebriated because it was the weekend and they were partying on this luxury liner. So they didn’t even pay any attention to the noise or the jar as any kind of indicator of things to come so they just ignored the signs. God is warning us today to turn away from everything that we put our confidence in and turn to Christ and put our confidence in Him for our future. This is not just something we’re doing to help us with or life but it something that will secure our place in heaven for all of eternity.
I realize it’s a faith but it’s not a blind faith it’s a faith that looks back at the resurrection of Jesus Christ and says that if He be raised then God can raise me as well. Do you have that kind of confidence, do you realize that if God can raise Jesus from the dead that He can raise you as well? You must understand that all will be raised – God will raise everyone from the dead, but the Bible says that some will be raised to a spiritual death.
There where a lot of notable wealthy people on the Titanic in 1912. But the most notable passenger on the Titanic was someone that most of the world has never heard of before. He was a man by the name of John Harper. He was a plan ordinary Pastor from the city of Glasgow, Scotland. He had faithfully shepherded his congregation for years, he was a fairly young minister only 40 years old. He had given over a decade to his church 15 years as their Pastor. Moody Memorial Church in Chicago had invited him to come and preach a series of sermons. So he had accepted the invitation and had booked himself on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. As he boarded the ship he thought, “I will have plenty of time to prepare my sermons for this preaching series. But Pastor John had a bit of a problem staying in his room and studying because he had such a heart for people. It is told that the night before the Titanic sunk that John Harper was on the deck earnestly pleading and begging someone to come to Christ. He had given his life day in and day out to see people get into the spiritual lifeboat. And that night when that iceberg struck that ship he was awakened so he got up and started making his way to the lifeboat and he realized their wasn’t enough room for everyone. So he started going from deck to deck crying out – “women and children and the unsaved to the lifeboats.” He said, “lets get the non-Christians on first.” Now as he was dong this you could imagine the panic. Many people were cast into the waters and survived for a while in the freezing waters, Pastor John was one of those people. He hung on to a wooden piece of debris floating in the water.
Some of the passengers because of the swirling currents of the sinking ship were being brought close to one another and then flung back apart. One of the men was brought into close proximity with John Harper and John cried out sir are you a Christian? And the man answered simply, NO. And the current took him away into the darkness. A few minutes later by God’s providence that same man was brought back into John Harper’s sight and John asked him again, “Sir, are you saved yet – have you accepted Christ?” And the man said, “NO, I can’t honestly say that I am.” Apparently that was the last thing John Harper ever said, he lost his grip on the piece of debris and sunk down into the Atlantic Ocean and died. That man that John Harper was pleading with to become a Christian in his last few moments of life was one of the very few who was plucked out of the icy waters by one of the ships that rushed to the scene. He testified that he did accept Christ that very night and he settled in Hamilton in Ontario Canada. He was often asked to speak and give his testimony and he would proudly step up and say I’m John Harpers last convert.
People who are saved and safe in the lifeboat have no other greater joy than to bring others to safety with them. John Harper gave his place in the lifeboat to see others saved and then with his dying breath he lead one last person to trust Christ.
When our POW’s were released and it showed the families hugging and celebrated and all of America along with them their was a since of relief because we didn’t know if they would make it. You might be here this morning because someone begged and pleaded with you to be here. You’ve got to realize why Christian’s nag people, their concerned that you get in the lifeboat. There is such a joy when someone comes to the point to where they let go of the rails of the sinking ship and get into the safety of the lifeboat. And we look from the lifeboat and watch people on the deck of the ship rearranging the furniture on the deck as the ship sinks. And we plead with them to step into the lifeboat.
LOST – SAVED
Their where three classes of passengers that boarded the Titanic when it left South Hampton. But when the ship sank their were only two classes. Matter of fact the headquarters that ran the ship line back in Liverpool London had an office there and you could image as the survivors were picked up by passing ships and were making their way back on the two or three day journey back to the United States. They started wiring specific information about these passengers back to Liverpool. And outside the Whitestar office there were two board on either sides of the steps. And facing the sidewalk there was one board on the right and it said, “those known to be saved”. And the board on the left said, “those known to be lost.” And when wires would come into the main office and they would learn specific information about the individual names a man would walk down the steps with a piece of cardboard with someone’s name on it and the entire block of people who were watching this would hold their breath as that employee of the Whitstar took a turn either to the right or to the left. And their name would be pined on the list that said Known to be lost, or on the one said known to be saved. The Bible says there is a book in heaven called the Lambs Book of Life. And at the top it may well read those known to be saved. And what our desperate concern is for your name to be written in that book. That’s what we care about the most.
On Easter we can talk about all kinds of things to pump you up and make you feel good, but the one thing that matters the most is not how you feel, but rather, is your name written in that book, are you in the lifeboat? We could talk about some slick Christian ideas on Easter that are aimed at getting you to come back next week but ultimately we’re going to run into this question of your salvation. Can you turn today to the Captain of the lifeboat (Jesus Christ) and say here is my life take it? If you can then your name will be written in heaven for all eternity and you’ll forever be known as one who is saved.
That’s the confidence of Easter and it’s based on the fact that Christ has shown us it can be done. That God raises the dead and takes care of our sin problem and our death problem.
Have you stepped in the lifeboat? And if you have do you care like John Harper did that people are on a ship that is sinking to their ultimate doom? If today you’re willing to step into that lifeboat and put your confidence in Christ and respond to the gospel message:
