It was June 18, 1815 --- the Battle of Waterloo. The French under the command of Napoleon were fighting the allied forces of the British, Dutch, and Germans under the command of General Wellington. The people of England depended on a system of signals to find out how the battle was going. One of these signals was on the tower of Winchester Cathedral.
Late in the day it flashed the signal: “W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N---D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D---.” Just at that moment a fog cloud made it impossible to read the message. The news of defeat quickly spread throughout the city. The whole countryside was sad and gloomy when they heard the news that their country had lost the war. Suddenly, the fog lifted, and the remainder of the message could be read. The message had four words, not two. The complete message was: “W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N---D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D---T-H-E---E-N-E-M-Y!” It took only a few minutes for the good news to spread. Sorrow was turned into joy; defeat was turned into victory!
So it was when Jesus was buried in the tomb. Hope had died in the hearts of Jesus’ most loyal followers. After the frightful crucifixion, the fog of disappointment and misunderstanding had crept in on them. They had read only part of the message. “Christ defeated” was all they knew. But then on the third day the fog lifted, and the world received the complete message: “Christ defeated death!” Sorrow was turned into joy; death was turned into life!
1 Corinthians 15:1-20; 51-58
I. TO ME, EASTER MEANS GOOD NEWS.
One of the differences between Christianity and ever other religion is that their founders are dead. Our founder, the Lord Jesus Christ, rose from the grave and is alive today. At the tombs of Mohammed and Confucius and Buddha and all the others, we read, “Here he lies.” But when we go to the tomb of Jesus, the words of the angel ring out in our ears, “He is not here; he has risen!”
A. It’s good news that the tomb is empty.
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless. . . .” (v. 14a)
The message that Paul preached was the gospel of Jesus Christ. He tells us what the gospel is in verses 3 and 4: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
The word “gospel” means “good news.” But if the resurrection is taken from the gospel, we are left with sad news, not good news.
D. L. Moody, the great evangelist of the nineteenth century, assigned some ministerial students to conduct evangelistic tent meetings throughout the city of Chicago. The students were to preach nightly sermons as a means of winning souls for Christ and to practice their preaching. Dr. Moody personally showed up one night unannounced at one of the meeting places to hear one of his fledgling young ministers preach the gospel. The young mad did quite well expounding on the death of Christ on the cross for the sins of the world. At the close of the service, he announced that everyone should come back the next night when he would “preach on the resurrection of Christ.”
After the people left, Moody said, “Young man, you will not be back tomorrow night! Many of these people will not be back tomorrow night and consequently have only heard half the gospel!”
Mr. Moody might have been a little hard on the young student, but what he said is true: The cross of Christ is only half the gospel. And half a gospel is not good news! Romans 4:25 says that Christ “was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.”
B. It’s good news that we can trust in what Jesus says.
Christ predicted His resurrection on several occasions. At first He used only vague terms, such as “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). John writes that “the temple he had spoken of was his body” (v. 21).
Later on in His ministry He spoke more plainly. Matthew writes, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matt. 16:21).
Jesus declared in Matthew 12:40: “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three night in the heart of the earth.”
And later in 20:18-19 Jesus predicted, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
Mark records Jesus saying, “After I am risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee” (Mark 14:28).
In John 10:17-18 we find Jesus proclaiming these words: “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life --- only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it again.”
To the women who came to Christ’s tomb on Easter morning and wondered where His body was, the angel said, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (Matt. 28:6).
If the resurrection did not happen, we would have to admit that Jesus lied and, therefore, cannot be trusted. But it did happen; we can and should believe what He says. If a promise as amazing as the resurrection came true, we can be sure that everything else He has promised will also be fulfilled.
II. TO ME, EASTER MEANS SALVATION.
“. . . and so is your faith” (v. 14b)
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (v. 17)
Faith in a dead man does not save.
Pretend that you are being chased by an insane killer down a dark road. As you frantically run away from him, you see up ahead a cemetery on the right and a house on the left. How many of you would run to the cemetery for help? How many of you would run to the house for help? (I guess some of you would just keep running down the road until he caught you!) I think most people would run to the house. Why? Because the cemetery is filled with dead bodies which can do nothing, but the house might contain living people who can help.
If Jesus Christ did not rise and is still dead then He has no power to save us. Our faith is “useless.”
III. TO ME, EASTER MEANS HOPE.
“then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (v. 18).
Verse 20 states, “But Christ is indeed raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The “firstfruits” are the first part of the harvest. The “firstfruits” guarantee that the full harvest is on its way. So Christ, who has been raised, is the “firstfruits,” the guarantee, of the resurrection of all God’s redeemed people. However, if Christ’s body is still in the grave, there is no guarantee.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul addresses some bereaved believers who had lost Christian relatives and friends. He writes to them, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (vv. 13-14). He then explains that “the Lord will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (vv. 16-17). Paul concludes by saying, “Therefore encourage each other with these words” (v. 18).
However, if Christ has not been raised, there is no hope. But . . .
Because He lives I can face tomorrow;
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.
IV. TO ME, EASTER MEANS JOY.
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (v. 19).
· If Christ has not been raised, why bother to go to church? You would be better off somewhere else.
· If Christ has not been raised, why bother to preach? I might as well get another job.
· If Christ has not been raised, why bother to put money in the offering plate? You’re only giving to a lost cause.
· If Christ has not been raised, why bother to serve Him? You’re only wasting your time and energy?
· If Christ has not been raised, why suffer for Him? You’re only causing yourself needless pain.
· If Christ has not been raised, why tell others about Him? You might as well save your breath.
· If Christ has not been raised, why sing songs about Him? You might as well sing song about the Easter Bunny.
Here is how Alan Redpath sums up this passage: “If Christ is not risen, then our faith is empty, our preaching useless, and he has failed to deal with sin at all. If he has not been raised from the tomb, we are still in our sins and all his promises are absolutely untrue. He is a fraud, an imposter, and his ashes are buried somewhere in Palestine today. There is no hope beyond the grave for anybody, and those who have died professing faith in him are just left there forever.”
But since Christ has been raised, the opposite is true. We can say, “Since Jesus Christ is risen, our faith in Him saves, our preaching converts, and He has gained complete victory over sin. Since He has been raised from the tomb, we are saved from our sins and all His promises are absolutely true. He is the Lord as He claimed to be and is exalted in heaven today. There is hope beyond grave for all who trust in Him, and those who have died professing faith in Him are rejoicing in heaven now.”
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychiatry, wrote, “And finally there is the painful riddle of death, for which no remedy at all has yet been found, nor probably ever will be!” But Christians have victory in death and over death because of the victory of Jesus Christ in His own resurrection. Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).
Every year thousands of people climb a mountain in the Italian Alps, passing the “stations of the cross” to stand at an outdoor crucifix. One tourist noticed a little trail that led beyond the cross. He fought through the rough thicket and, to his surprise, came upon another shrine, a shrine that symbolized the empty tomb. It was neglected. The brush had grown up around it. Almost everyone had gone as far as the cross, but there they stopped.
Far too many have arrived at the cross and have known only the despair and the heartbreak. Far too few have moved beyond the cross to find the real message of Easter. This is the message of the empty tomb, the message of joy.
CONCLUSION
Thomas Jefferson is remembered as a great man; however, he could not accept the miraculous elements of Scripture. He edited his own version of the Bible in which all references to the supernatural were deleted. Jefferson, in editing the Gospels, confined himself solely to the moral teachings of Jesus. The closing words of Jefferson’s Bible are these: “There laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulchre and departed.” Thank God that is not the way the story really ends!
· To me, Easter means GOOD NEWS! The gospel --- the message of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection --- really is, as Romans 1:16 says, “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
· To me, Easter means SALVATION! Jesus is alive and able to save all who come by faith to Him.
· To me, Easter means HOPE! My body will not stay in the grave forever; I will rise again just like Jesus did.
· To me, Easter means JOY! I am not “to be pitied more than all men”; I am happier than all men.
INVITATION
Have you received the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ? Have you put your trust in Him for SALVATION. Have you experienced the HOPE and JOY that only He gives?
If not, will you come to Him today?
