Sermon Central
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Why Seek The Living Among The Dead?
Contributed by Doane Brubaker on Apr 25, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: That penetrating question of the angels to the women on resurrection morning leads to such great assurance that indeed we serve a risen Savior, that the grave is not our final destination and that we do find life when we look where it is found.
Why Seek the Living Among the Dead?
Scripture Reading: Luke 23:50 – 24:12
It was completely logical for the women to go to Jesus’ tomb early that Sunday morning. They went to do the final thing they could for him and it was reasonable they’d expect to find his body there. Where else would you look for one who’s dead, than in the tomb where you saw the body placed?
But the most amazing surprise awaited them.
• The tomb was open…
• Two angels gleaming like lightening suddenly stood before them…
And they asked the women, “Why are you looking for the One who is alive here, where the dead reside?
They were stopped in their tracks… bowed with their faces to the ground. The sight of angels will have that affect
But that question; So penetrating! Why look for the living among the dead?
That simple question stops us in our tracks too because it brings us face to face with the most amazing truth ever that sets before us the most wonderful opportunity ever. It is so beyond human imagination that it took divine love and divine creativity to come up with it; Life conquers death!
Do you grasp what that means? It’s a promise that gives assurance and joy on several fronts. It’s a promise with meaningful results.
Will you walk together w/ me in God’s Word for a few minutes this Easter morning so we can get a fresh and firm grip on this promise?
The question; “Why are you seeking the living among the dead?
First, means that if you love Jesus Christ, you serve a risen Savior.
Our faith, the Christian faith is the only faith based on a loving relationship with its living Founder. All others failed to overcome the grave and their mortal remains are still there.
Jesus is only one who could promise, and who could deliver on the promise…
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26, NIV)
It’s hard to believe a dead person can come to life. Isn’t that impossible? The laws of nature forbid it. Death is final, right?
Who says? Smart, educated people?
Are you thinking of the same educated people who say there was a big explosion somewhere out in the universe and this world just naturally emerged from it?
Are you thinking of the same smart people who say resurrection of life is impossible, but after death we can be reincarnated to a higher state of being?
It just might be more reasonable to simply believe God does what he says He does.
Critics say the church created the resurrection. Not so… The resurrection created the church.
Not long before death, Jesus said, Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19, NIV)
Not long after Jesus’ resurrection… Peter preached in Jerusalem… “God raised Jesus from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him…” (Acts 2:24).
Then he cited Psalm 16 where David wrote as a prophet “…he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” (Acts 2:32, NIV)
If you believe in Jesus; if you love Him, you serve a risen Savior…the living Lord.
You have nothing to be ashamed of on this most important issue of life. You’ve made the smartest decision ever to be made. God bless you for it. Hold to it and stand firm in assurance. Never let people cast doubt on your faith. Never let the devil cast doubt on it.
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26, NIV)
You say, “Yes!” I say, “Praise God!”
You say, “Not yet.” I ask why not now; right now?
Here’s how…
• Prayer
The question; “Why are you seeking the living among the dead?
Second, means that a grave is not your final destination.
On some future day, before the remains of your body are laid to rest in a grave, you will be gone from it. Remember, Jesus said to one of the criminals, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
2 Corinthians 5 is a passage I often share as I talk with people who are dying. It’s a passage many of you have heard when you attended a funeral.
We know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down — when we die and leave these bodies — we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, NLT)
