Alba 3-31-24
CHRIST IS RISEN
Romans 8:34
A story was told about a Biology I test in which the students were asked: "Suppose you could take to Mars any of the laboratory equipment used in this course. How would you determine if there was life on Mars?" One student responded: "Ask the inhabitants. Even a negative answer would be significant." The student got an A.
Well, I'm not sure that there is life on Mars, but there is life here on earth. And there is life after death. We know that because Christ Is Risen!
Throughout the pages of the New Testament that message rings out loud and clear. But of course, that very statement tells us even more. If Christ is risen, we know that first He died and then was buried. But then, He rose from that grave victorious over sin and death! Indeed, Christ is risen!
While that truth is recorded in various places in Scripture, today we will turn to Romans 8:31-34. Here's what it says: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ”
Verse 34 gives us the good news of our salvation as simply as it can be stated. Each part of that verse outlines the means by which we can be saved from the penalty of our sins. The very first thing it tells us is “it is Christ who died.” The fact that He is risen means that:
1. He Has Conquered Death.
And what a cruel death it was. The cross itself was pure torture. It was meant to be that. It is amazing what evil the mind of man can conceive. Jesus knew that would be the way He would offer Himself as a sacrifice for us. No wonder there were sweat drops of blood from His brow even before they put the crown of thorns on His head.
The journey to the place of crucifixion was not an easy one either. The Romans made sure that those who were about to die would suffer not only physical pain but also humiliation.
Before the finality of death came, condemned prisoners had the upper beam of the cross tied to their shoulders and were paraded through the streets until they reached the final destination of the crucifixion.
The distance from the point where Jesus had received His cross to Golgotha's Hill is said to be about a forth of a mile. As prisoners labored under the weight of the beam of the cross, the crowd mock them, spit on them and threw things at them. It was a time of final persecution, humiliation and rejection before the agonizing death that was before them.
Then came the agonizing pain being nailed to the cross. That is what Jesus endured for us in order to open the door to heaven. It was so that we, who because of our sin and unrighteousness do not deserve to enter, would be welcome in His heaven.
Salvation is not cheap. Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe because we had a debt that we could not pay. He died the death that we all deserve, and He was raised to new life to offer us a hope we could not imagine.
This was no accident! This was no miscarriage of justice. Oh, the men who put Him there were accountable for their actions, of course. As Jesus was standing before Pilate, hundreds of voices were crying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"
They nailed him to a cross, and He hung between heaven and earth until He died!
But at the end of the day, the cowardly Roman governor and the jealous Jews and the cruel soldiers were no more responsible for Christ on the cross than any of us. We put Him there with our sin. Our sin cost Jesus His precious life.
But the next thing verse 34 tells us is “furthermore, He is also risen!”
2. He Rose From the Grave
Yes, after three days the angels announced, "He is not here; He is risen as He said!" (Luke 24:6) The stone had been rolled away, and the victory had been won!
There is a story in which a little 3 year-old girl got right the meaning of this day. She was so excited about the coming of Easter, and she and her mom went to the store to buy her some new shoes. She said, “Mommy, I can’t wait for Easter!” Her mom asked, “Do you know what Easter means, honey?”
She replied, “Yup.” “Well, what does Easter mean?” her mom asked. In her own sweet 3 year-old way, with a smile on her face, and with arms opened wide, she said, “Surprise!”
Yes, Jesus is risen!
But that just doesn't happen! We know a lot of things. We know that water flows downward. We know that hot air flows upward. And we know that once a person is truly dead, that's it. Life is gone. Except...
Have you heard of a resurrection plant? An article on a web site called “Gardenista” says, “Miracles do exist, at least in the garden. Allow us to introduce you to a desert plant that can revive itself even after its leaves turn brown and it shrivels up into a sad tumbleweed. Give a resurrection plant (Selaginella lepidophylla) a little water and it will exhibit the amazing ability to come back to life.
“This is good news, both for gardeners who plant it as a creeper or ground cover, and for houseplant collectors. For once, forgetting to water a specimen will not be a fatal error.”
Now you say, that's all well and good for a plant. But we are talking about a person. Yes that's right. And the person of Jesus Christ was not revived by putting some water on Him. He died and, by His own power as creator of this universe, came to life and walked out of that tomb. Jesus was no mere man. He was God in the flesh.
And He was able to say in John 10:17-18, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
Secular historians admit that Jesus lived, and died, and was buried, and that three days later, the tomb was found to be empty. The only good explanation for the empty tomb is the resurrection of Jesus. The empty tomb stands as the symbol of our hope.
Oh, there have been many, because of their doubts, who were not willing to believe this could happen. A number of people have set out to prove that it didn't. But guess what. The more they examined the evidence, they came to believe and put their faith in Jesus. To the women who had gone to the tomb that resurrection morning the angel said “come and see”. In other words investigate, and you will believe.
There have been atheists who set about to prove that Jesus’ resurrection did not happen. But they ended up being overwhelmed by the evidence and person of Jesus Christ. People like American journalist Lee Strobel; the English journalist Frank Morisson; Lew Wallace, the author of Ben Hur; attorneys like Albert Roper and Josh McDowell; scholars like England’s Lord Littleton, and Gilbert West. All people who at first discounted the resurrection, and each of them ended up meeting Jesus Christ Himself and deciding to follow Him as Savior and Lord.
Even the apostles were hesitant to believe that Jesus rose from that grave. When the women reported to them what they had seen, Luke 24:11 says that, “their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.”
But then they saw the evidence: An empty tomb, undisturbed grave cloths, a 2000 pound stone that’s rolled away. They were among the over 515 eye witnesses who saw and met with Jesus after the resurrection.
Do you realize, that if we had each of the 515 plus people who witnessed the resurrected Lord, and could have each one of those witnesses come up here this morning and talk for 15 minutes a piece and give testimony to what they saw, how long that would take? Just for 15 minutes and then the next.
For us to listen to that testimony of all the people who saw the resurrected Christ, we would be here all day, and all night, and Monday and Monday night and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and sometime early Friday morning they would just be wrapping up their testimony.
And we, through the eyes of a man named Thomas, can look at the evidence of Jesus standing before us and see in His hands, His feet and His side that this same Jesus who was crucified, now is alive! Christ is Risen!
Chuck Colson served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. He was convicted in the Watergate cover up and spent some time in prison. Colson became an evangelical Christian in 1973.
Here is a quote from him: “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison.
“They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world, and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
Yes, Christ is risen, and is now “at the right hand of God” (vs. 34) making intercession for us before the Heavenly Father. He is the Good Shepherd who is praying for and guiding His people even now from the heavenly throne.
So now, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (vs. 37).
Jesus told us “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” And then He said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:12-13). And that is what He did! Amazing love, how can it be, that Christ my Savior died for me!
When we are in Christ we can say with the apostle Paul, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Good Friday was bad, but Sunday was coming. In an old Good Friday "FAMILY CIRCUS" cartoon, Little Billy and his brother are walking along through a store looking at all the Easter eggs and candy on the shelves. And Billy says, "This may be Good Friday, but Sunday’s gonna be even gooder!"
That first day of the week when Jesus rose from the grave indeed was “gooder”. Christ is Risen!
CLOSE:
One Sunday morning a preacher was dressing for church and had the radio on listening to a local church service. Suddenly he heard the minister say, "It’s Easter, and it doesn’t make any difference if Christ be risen or not..."
Hearing this, the preacher, Alfred Henry Ackley, shocked, shouted, "It’s a lie! He is risen!" His wife said, "Why don’t you write a song about it?"
Reading in the gospels again "He is risen," and feeling God’s presence, he began writing. His words have been sung in churches every Resurrection Day since. We sang it today too.
"I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today, I know that He is living, whatever men may say. He Lives! He Lives! Christ Jesus Lives Today!"
It is my prayer that on this Resurrection Day, that you know Jesus lives. And that you have committed yourself to Him as Savior and Lord.
Have you fully put your faith in Him, repented of your sins, confessed His name before others and been baptized into Him for the remission of your sins? What is your decision today?
