Amazed

No one expected Jesus to rise from the dead. Pilate didn't or he would not have put Jesus to death. The Jewish leaders didn't, or they would not have condemned him as a blasphemer. Roman soldiers didn't or they would not have crucified him. The women didn't understand this or they would not have brought spices on that first Easter morning. And as they approached the tomb, it says that the women were not thinking or anticipating Jesus would be alive. They the question that dominated their hearts was the question who will roll away the stone from the tomb? They were expecting to find a dead Jesus that first Easter morning. But what about the disciples? The disciples were the most loyal followers of Jesus, and they didn't expect him to rise from the dead. After they heard the report from the women that Jesus was alive. We see their response in verse 11. It says, But these words seemed like nonsense to them. And they did not believe the women. They said, Ladies, we appreciate your optimism, but this is nonsense. What you're saying is nonsense. Jesus is not alive. No one expected Jesus to rise from the dead but the women, his disciples and countless other people came to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And they were so convinced that Jesus was alive that they were willing to be beaten, they were willing to be tortured, and they were even willing to die because they would not stop proclaiming the truth that Jesus Christ is alive. And so the question before us this morning is the question, what happened? What happened? Why did these people come to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? This is a significant question for us, because many of you are here this morning to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do you believe the truth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? You believe Jesus conquered sin and death and Satan on our behalf? And you're here this morning to celebrate. Some of you are here to investigate the resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You've tried living life on your own terms, in your own way. You have all the things that you thought would make you happy, but you're still empty. And you might be wondering if Jesus is what you are missing in your life. And then some of you are here because you have a drug problem. You are drug here by friends or family. And you were just hoping that there's a good meal on the other side of this service. I trust that there is. Now, I don't know why you're here, but my goal is to help us think through what the Bible teaches about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and why it matters to our lives. If Jesus rose from the dead, it has to mean something. If He is alive today, it has to mean something. So let's start with the first question. Why did the disciples come to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Is it because they're gullible? It's because they were mindless. Is it because they weren't intelligent? No. There are reasons. Now, what are the reasons? Well, there are three obvious reasons in Luke 24. The first is the testimony of the empty tomb, the testimony of the empty tomb, verse one on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Jesus was buried in a public, well-known tomb, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The women knew where Jesus was buried. They were there when they laid him in the tomb. The Jewish leaders knew where Jesus was buried. The Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb knew where Jesus was buried. Everyone knew where Jesus was buried. This detail matters because typically, after someone was crucified, they would take the dead body down off the cross and they would throw it in a mass grave. And after a couple of days, the body would decompose and the body would be unrecognizable. And so if Jesus's body was taken down off the cross and thrown in a mass grave, then three days later, his followers proclaimed that Jesus is alive. Everyone would have dismissed this claim. They would have said he's not alive. His body is somewhere in that mass grave. No one would have taken this claim seriously. But the fact that Jesus's body was the only body in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a public tomb, a well known tomb, the fact that it was guarded by Roman soldiers who placed a Roman seal on the tomb to place a Roman seal on the tomb meant to everyone around, Do not open this seal or you're going to die. It was a big deal to place a Roman seal on something. And the fact that the tomb was found empty on that first Easter morning meant that you had to give an answer to the question Where is the body of Jesus? Where is his body? Everyone knew where his body was, and now his body is nowhere to be found. So where is the body of Jesus? And we're told that the women, they showed up at that tomb, at the tomb on the first Easter morning and there was no body. And then Peter and John, they went to the tomb and they saw that the tomb was empty. Now, this piece of evidence in and of itself would not prove the resurrection, but it is one piece of the puzzle. So why did they come to believe in the resurrection? Number one is because of the testimony of the empty tomb. Number two is the testimony of the angels. The testimony of the angels. Verse three, they went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. These are angels we know from the other gospel accounts. These are angels. So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. Why are you looking for the living among the dead? Asked the men. He is not here, but he is risen. He has been raised from the dead. So where is the body of Jesus? It's not in the tomb. Where is. Where is his body? He's not here. He is alive. He has been raised from the dead. This is the testimony from heaven saying that Jesus Christ is alive. And the women from here went out proclaiming, according to the angels, according to the empty tomb, that Jesus Christ is alive. The third piece of the puzzle is the testimony of the Scriptures and of Jesus himself. Jesus appeared alive to hundreds and hundreds of people. If Jesus only appeared alive to one or 2 or 3 people, then their testimony could have been disregarded. But Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time. 500 people at one time. This is why the Apostle John says, We saw him with our eyes. We touched him with our hands. We heard him with our ears. We are I we were we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. We know that he is alive. Luke, 24, verse 36, says, In just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. Peace be with you, he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost. Why are you frightened? He asked. Why do your hearts fill? Why are they filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it's really me. Touch me and make sure that I'm not a ghost. Because ghosts don't have bodies. As you see that I do. As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet. Still, they stood. Stood there in disbelief. I love that line. I've been thinking about that line all week. Still, they stood there in disbelief. They're standing there. They can't even move. They're thinking to themselves, what is going on? We thought he was dead. And now he's right here. He is alive right in front of our eyes. We know that he's here. Still, they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. They knew that what was happening right in front of them was going to change everything. Their lives would be changed forever and the whole world would be changed because of a resurrected Jesus Christ. Still, they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them. Do you have anything here to eat? I think it's so funny that he asked them, Do you have any food? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he ate it as they watched. He told them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. He says, Guys, remember the Old Testament scriptures that you love. The Old Testament scriptures predicted that the Messiah would be crucified and then rise again from the dead. And I told you that I would be crucified and then rise again from the dead. And behold, I'm here. I was crucified, and now I am alive. So why did they believe in the resurrection? Because of the empty tomb. Because of the angels, Because of the Scriptures and because of Jesus Christ himself resurrected in power. They saw him with. With their own eyes. Henry Morris says the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the crowning proof of Christianity. If the resurrection did not take place, then Christianity is false, is a false religion. If it did take place, then if it did take place, then Christ is God and the Christian faith is absolute truth. The claim of the resurrection pushes humanity to an all or nothing proposition. And people don't like all or nothing propositions. We like to be able to split the difference, but this moves us. It forces us to an all or nothing proposition. If you're going to be intellectually honest, if Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God, He is alive and everything He says is true. And if Jesus is who He claims to be, then we ought to fall down before him offering him our lives. He is worthy of our life. He is worthy of our suffering. He is worthy of our time, our money, our energy. He is the only way of salvation and we ought to follow him. But if he has not been raised from the dead, then he is dead. He is a false preacher and we should have nothing to do with him. In fact, the Bible itself tells us that if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then we ought not to believe him. He is a liar and there is no hope in Christ. And so what pushes humanity to a decision? We have to make a decision. Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? If so, we must follow him. If we do not believe in the resurrection, then we are on our own to figure out life. So what about you? Do you believe that Jesus lived and died and rose again? If you if you do, that is the very heartbeat, the very essence of Christianity, the gospel message that Jesus Christ is alive. And you can know him today by faith. This is the heartbeat of Christianity. Now, if Jesus did rise from the dead, what does that mean for us? What does it mean for our lives of Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Well, there are thousands of eternal implications that flow from the resurrection. But I just want to focus on two. The first is that the resurrection is the promise of the forgiveness of sins. So when you think about the resurrection, when you think about the truth that Jesus rose from the dead, what does that mean? Well, the resurrection is the promise of the forgiveness of sins. When the angel is speaking to the women in verse seven, this is what he says. It is necessary that the son of man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and rise. On the third day, this is what Jesus told his disciples. This is what He told everyone. It's necessary that I that I be crucified and then rise again on the third day. But why is it necessary that Jesus be crucified? Why was the crucifixion of Jesus necessary? Well, this is where we see the glory and the offense of the cross. This is where we see the glory and the offense of the cross. And if you do not allow the cross to offend you, you will never see the glory of what Christ has done for you. Most people, even church going people, most people never let the cross offend them. They define the cross in their own terms. They reject what God has to say about the cross of Christ. They say it's just where Jesus died and that's about it. We do not let the cross do its work in our souls. We do not stare at the cross of Christ thinking about what the Cross of Christ means. But if you do not allow the cross to offend you, then you'll never see the glory of what God has done for you. So why is the cross so offensive? Well, the reason is that most people, most of us here, many of us here this morning, we think of ourselves as pretty good people. So when we think about our lives, we think, yeah, I'm a pretty good person and we might even say something like this. I've said this before, I'm not I'm not perfect. I'm a pretty good person. I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as Hitler, you know, I'm not as bad as my boss or Miley Cyrus or whoever it is that you think about in your life when you compare yourself to other people. And I'm definitely not as bad as I could be. I try hard to be a good person. Do you try hard to be a good. Are you as bad as you could be? Certainly not. You say no to your desires. You try hard to be good. Now I want you to imagine yourself on your best day. Your best day. Your best day morally and your best day spiritually. Where you give 110% effort all day long. From the time you get up to the time you go to bed. So you wake up early and you read your Bible and you pray. You read your Bible for an hour, you pray for an hour, you walk little old ladies across the street. No road rage when you're driving. You serve at the homeless shelter all day long. You have breakfast, lunch and dinner at Chick fil A. You eat holy food there. You share the gospel with LeBron James. You lead LeBron James to Christ. You baptize him here at Walnut Creek Church, which would be the right thing to do. You serve your family with kindness and humility. You rub your wife's feet, you speak the truth in love. You watch The Chosen as your nighttime entertainment. It is the best day you can imagine. It is. It is a holy day. You try as hard as you can possibly try, and then you go to bed. And then you wake up and you do it again. And then you do it again. And then you do it again. And then you do it again. You do it every day of your entire life. You don't take one day off. Every day is 100% effort to be as good as you can be, as moral as you can be, as spiritual as you can be. You try to be good. You don't take one day off and then you die and you stand before God in judgment. Let me let me ask you, in that situation, would you go to heaven or hell? Hell you would go to hell. In fact, the cross teaches us that you would be as worthy of hell as Adolf Hitler. You'd be as condemned as Joseph Stalin. Because the standard to go to heaven is not your best effort. The standard to enter into the Kingdom of God is the very righteousness of God to which all of us fall short. None of us live up to that standard. And so the cross says that even on your best day, you cannot make yourself acceptable to God. There is nothing you can do to save yourself. So what is the solution? The solution is that a sinless savior, the son of God, the righteous, eternal son of God, had to die in your place at the cross for your sins that you might be forgiven. This is. This is what is meant by the statement. It is necessary that Jesus had to be crucified. If Jesus was not crucified, if he did not die in our place, then you could not live. If he did not die, you could not live. He died our death at the cross. And so the cross teaches us that we are so sinful that a sinless savior had to die to save us. And the cross also teaches us that we are so loved by God that a sinless savior gladly died for you. Not only did he have to die, he gladly died. He willingly gave up his life for you that your sins might be forgiven. And so the cross is the demonstration of God's holiness. And the cross is the demonstration of God's eternal love that He has for us. This is the good news of the Gospel. This is what the world needs to hear. This is what your soul needs to hear, that there is forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ, that because of the cross of Christ and because of His resurrection, all of your past sins, all of your present sins, all of your future sins are gone. They are all gone. Where are they? Did you know that God has kept a record of everything you've done wrong? He knows everything you've done wrong and that record stands opposed to you. Now, where did that record go? That record was laid on Christ at the Cross. And when he died and he said it is finished, he meant that the payment for our sin was complete. And when he went into the grave three days later, he rose again. And when he rose, he did not come out of the grave with your sins. He left them. He left them dead. They are paid for. They are all gone. They have been paid for by the blood of Christ. And so the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the receipt from heaven demonstrating that God has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. This is a little picture that I think is helpful. It says Salvation. Jesus paid it all. Sin, shame, regret, past mistakes, unforgiveness, hurt, anger, lust, sexual sin, drug use, whatever it is. Bitterness. That list could keep going and going and going and going. And Jesus has paid for it. At the cross. It's all paid for. So what do you now? Oh, God. To be forgiven. What do you. What do you. Oh, God. Nothing. It's all paid for. He paid for it at the cross. Do you have sins that burden your conscience When you think about what you did in the past? How could I do that? How could I say that? You know the Lord Jesus? He died for them. He paid for them. You've been washed clean by the blood of Christ. And the Lord Jesus did this because he loves us, that we might be brought to him. Those sins are gone. They've been buried in the depths of the ocean. He's removed our sins from us. As far as the east is from the West. We will not stand condemned because of what Christ has done for us. Now, just because Jesus rose from the dead, it does not mean that you are forgiven, that the whole world is forgiven just because Jesus died and rose. It doesn't mean that everyone is saved. Salvation, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God. They're all good gifts that must be received by faith. They must be received by faith alone. And if you reject God's gift of salvation, you will die in your sin. You will reject God's forgiveness. And millions of people this morning right now are gathered all throughout our country at a church, at church buildings, all throughout America and all around the world, millions of people who believe in God, and yet they will not come to faith in Christ. They will not. They will leave. They will leave the Easter service remaining dead in their sins because they will reject God's offer of salvation. They will reject God's free offer of forgiveness. And if you reject God's offer of forgiveness, you remain in your sins. There are so many people who reject God's offer of forgiveness. Some of you today, you will reject God's salvation and to reject. The salvation and forgiveness that God offers is to say this I'm a sinner, but there's no punishment for my sin. I'm a sinner, but there's no punishment for my sin. I don't need Christ. God, you know, God knows that I'm sinful, but God's going to sweep my sin underneath the rug. I don't need Christ. Or other people will say, I'm a sinner, but I can make myself right with God. What do you think I'm doing here at church this morning? I'm trying to make myself right with God. Which is to say, I can save myself or people can say I'm a sinner and I will pay for my own sin in hell. I don't want Christ. I'm so proud that I would rather go to hell than put my faith in Jesus Christ. I want my life my way. But see, the resurrection of Jesus demonstrates that the only way to God is through a resurrected Savior. You cannot come to God on your own terms. You cannot come to God in your own way. The only way to God is through a crucified and resurrected savior. I was thinking about the women this week when they went to the tomb that first Easter morning. And they showed up with spices and the burden of their heart was who will open up or who will roll away the stone so we can get into the tomb and anoint his body. And I was thinking about these women, how these women were arguably Jesus's most loyal followers. They did not abandon Jesus. They were with Jesus at the cross. They followed him to the tomb. And on that Sunday morning, they went to the tomb. They went to the tomb to anoint his body. They loved him. Jesus had changed their life. Their affections were for Christ and they were going there to honor him. But the angel says to says to them in verse six, he says, Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He's not here. He's alive. He has risen from the dead. And I was thinking about how these women, they wanted to honor Jesus, but they didn't really understand who Jesus was. They were treating Jesus like he was dead. And the angel says, You can't know him. You can't really honor him until you recognize he's alive. He's alive. And the same thing is true for us. You can't go to God, but through a resurrected savior, he is alive. So many treat Jesus like he's dead, but he's not dead. He is risen. He's not there. He is alive. He is ruling and reigning in heaven. And if we are to know him, we must believe in a resurrected Jesus Christ. And so the resurrection of Jesus is the promise of forgiveness. Number two. The resurrection is the promise of a glorious future. The resurrection is the promise of a glorious future. Brothers and sisters of Jesus rose from the dead. Then we have a glorious future in Christ. We have a glorious hope for today. First, Peter, one says that we have been born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then one day we will see Christ face to face. We will see the face of the one who created us. The one who loves us. The one who came for us. Who lived for us. Who died for us. And. And. And the one who rose for us. He is our life. He is our salvation. He died for us and rose for us, that we might be with him forever. And that day is coming. The day when we will see him face to face. And that day will be here before you know it. That day will be here before you know it. I've been thinking about James 414 recently, which says for you are like a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. You are like a vapor who appears for a little while and vanishes. And sometimes life feels stable. Life feels pretty stable and life feels long. But the fact of the matter is that we are a vapor. Your life is a vapor here today. Gone tomorrow. You're going to blink in your life, you will be at your end. My daughter, Mila and I, Mila is 13 years old in seventh grade. My daughter, Mila and I, we were cleaning out some of our closets at our house recently, and I came across this. This bad boy, if you want to put that picture up. And I hadn't seen this thing in forever in a really, really long time. And when I saw it, my mind was flooded with all these memories. And I said, Mila, these used to be so cool. These were so cool. All the cool people had them. Your mom had one. I didn't have one, but. But your mom did. And so I was just I was showing her and she goes, she's so sweet. And she goes, she goes, Dad, that's. That's so cool. And then she goes, What is it? And I said, That's right. You have no idea what this thing is. And I tried to explain it to her. I tried to explain it, you know, CDs, you put them in the computer, you download them, you put them on the iPod and super cool. And she just looked at me like I was an idiot, like patting me on the head. Good for you, Dad, and your iPods. And. But I just. I blinked. That's what happened. I blinked. And iPods are no longer cool. You know what that means. I'm old and I'm getting old. And what's going to happen in all of our lives is we're going to blink and our kids. Are going to be out of our house. We're going we're going to blink and we're going to be in another phase of life. And then you're going to blink again. And you're going to see the Lord. And so many people live as if that day is never going to get here. We live as if this life is all that there is but the resurrection of Jesus Christ teaches us. One day we will see Him. We will see our Savior, our resurrected Savior. And if Jesus rose from the dead, then one day we will be with him in the new heavens and the new Earth. We will be with him in our perfected bodies. Bodies like his resurrected body. Heaven is not an ethereal, abstract reality. So many people think of heaven. So many people think of the next life as this hazy, cloudy, abstract, not real existence, the spiritual existence. But Jesus rose from the dead bodily. He came back bodily. He doesn't just redeem part of us. He redeems the whole person. He redeems our soul and our bodies and our future is in a recreated heavens and earth. The new heavens and the new earth. If Jesus rose from the dead one day he will return to judge the world and righteousness. And he will create the new heavens and the new Earth. And in heaven, we will have a perfect relationship with God. No more faith, only sight. No more faith, only sight. We will see the Lord. We will see him in all of His glory. We will see him in His Holiness and his goodness. No more faith, only sight. We will have a perfect relationship with ourselves. No more anxiety. No more depression. No more hiding. No more turmoil, No more struggling. Doing what is right will be as natural for us as breathing. Right now, we struggle. Don't you feel the struggle in your soul between doing what God wants you to do and doing what your flesh wants? You feel that struggle all the time. But in that in that day, the moment we see the Lord, our last breath in this life, that struggle will be over. Now is the time to struggle. Now is the time to fight with our flesh, to do what is right before God. In that day, in that day, doing what is right will be as natural as breathing, and there will only be ever increasing joy forever and ever and ever and ever. There will only be ever increasing joy and the presence of God forever. We'll have perfect relationship with each other. We will enjoy perfect relationships, friendships, fellowship with each other forever. No more being left out, no more disappointment, no more being lied to. You know, I talk to people all the time. I talk to people all the time. And what I know about human beings is that almost everyone, when it comes to the deepest hurts and wounds of their souls. Those wounds are there because they've been done by other people. They've been done by other people. And so many people carry around relational baggage because they've been wounded, they've been hurt, they've been scarred. But for all of eternity, all those scars will be gone. There'll be no more hurting one another. No more lying to each other. No more taking advantage of each other. No more sinning against one another. Only perfect, perfect peace. Perfect relationships with each other forever. Then we'll have a perfect relationship with creation. No more mosquitoes. Praise God for that. No more. No more tornadoes. No more injuries. We will have perfect bodies in heaven. We will run. We will run. No more shin splints. No more hip, hip pain. No more knee pain. We will worship God with all of our hearts. We will never get sick. We will never get injured. There will be no more car accidents. No more random injuries. No more cancer. No more fear of cancer. In heaven, I will be able to sing and it won't sound bad, I'm pretty sure. And it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. Endeavour, Endeavour, Endeavour, Endeavour. And we'll never get bored. We will never get bored. And some of you say, well, that sounds really good. Yeah, that sounds that sounds really good, but that's just pie in the sky. Nonsense. How do you know it's true? If Jesus rose from the dead, that's our future. That's our future. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the promise of a glorious future. And see this is the hope that we need to face life. How do you face life? I think about this all the time. I think, How in the world do people live without Christ? How in the world do people live without the hope of the gospel? And I know the answer to that question. Do you know how people in the world live without Christ? They lie to themselves. They just lie to themselves. They just make up the future that they want with no with no hope. No hope of certainty at all. But see, the hope of the resurrection is the hope we need to face life to deal with all the joys of life and all the sorrows of life. And the hope of the resurrection is the hope we need to face death. You will either die before you want to die. Or you will watch all the people around you die. Those are your options. You will die before you want to die. Or all the people you care about, you'll watch them die. And see death is an enemy. It is an enemy that comes for every person. Death is an enemy that gets everybody. Everybody dies. But see if Jesus rose from the dead. We know that death is not the last word in life. Death is not the final word in life. See, we don't need to fear death. Jesus has saved us from the fear of death because we can stand before God. I was thinking about just how if I died right now, what is what is our hope before God? Is my hope before God or I'm a pastor and I read the Bible and I try to be good? Certainly not. What is my hope before God? My hope before God is Christ. That the record of my sin that rightly condemns me before a holy God has been done away with. It's been paid. Paid for. There is nothing out there that condemns me before God. It's all gone. And so I know I belong to Christ. I know that I will see his face. I know I will spend eternity with him. And so we need not fear death. And we're not supposed to fear death. Not because death is not tragic. Death is tragic. Death is heartbreaking. But Paul says that we can grieve with hope. We can grieve with hope. We can face pain with the hope of future glorification. We can. We can face the tragedies of life knowing that Christ has won on our behalf. So Christ has overcome sin. He has overcome Satan. He has defeated death itself on our behalf. And so, brothers and sisters rejoice. Celebrate that we serve a resurrected king. And if you don't know Christ, I would urge you to give your life to him. Do you know him? Have you received the gift of forgiveness? Eternal life that comes by faith alone in Christ? Don't be too proud to humble yourself one day. All of us. Everyone in this room. Every person on the planet Earth will bow the knee to the resurrected Christ. Christians do that now. Christians do that now. We do it joyfully. Now, recognizing that he is our Lord. He's our king. He's the one that we've been created for. So don't do not, do not, do not remain stiff necked in your pride. Humble yourself before Christ. He'll redeem you and he'll totally change your life.