Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Lord Jesus, we look forward to that day when we see you face to face, when we get to see your victory, like, right in front of us.
[00:00:13] For now, there's so much evidence, there's so much proof, there's so many ways that your resurrection has changed this world in which we live and the lives that have lived in this world.
[00:00:26] One carpenter from 2000 years ago lived in a no man's place, born in a town you could walk back and forth in at least 50 times a day and yet made such an impact in history. Because of this day, everybody dies, but only one has risen to never die again.
[00:00:50] And we are grateful, Father, for that resurrection. And because of your resurrection, we, too will rise someday, and we will live with you for eternity. Thank you, Father, for that hope that we have. Thank you for the fear that that kind of hope tears out of our lives. Thank you for the boldness we live with and the courage that we can live with, knowing that no matter, no man can do to us anything that will rip us away from your heart, from your love, from your grace.
[00:01:19] We are grateful, Father. We get to celebrate that again today, this Easter Sunday morning. You have risen, and we are grateful.
[00:01:28] We are excited to celebrate and also see Scotty make his profession of faith public and walk through these waters of baptism. It's an amazing Sunday. We are grateful to be here. May you be blessed in everything we do. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. Good morning, everybody.
[00:01:47] My name is Craig Jarvis. I am the lead pastor here at village church east, and it's my privilege to be able to share God's word with you this morning as we look into this amazing Easter Sunday morning. He is risen.
[00:02:02] Very nice. Good, good, good. So that has been just kind of a traditional thing that the church has done through the decades as we talk about the risen savior, Jesus Christ. And on this Easter Sunday morning, the lead person would say, he has risen. And the response would be, he is risen indeed.
[00:02:23] But what I want to talk to you about this morning is a big so what?
[00:02:29] Jesus rose from the dead, right? So what? What does that matter to me? 2000 years have passed. Not a lot has changed. There's still wars and rumors of wars. The world still has these natural disasters that take thousands of lives at a time. We have corrupted political leaders vying for being in charge of countries all around the world. And those who profess to be christians sometimes are very slightly or not at all, really dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:03:07] Our children still suffer. Our families still suffer.
[00:03:12] We deal with sin in us and around us on a regular basis.
[00:03:17] And so my question to you this morning is, nothing really changes. It's kind of the same cycle that occurs over and over again through every generation that has lived on this planet. So my question to you this morning is there is a resurrection. So what I debated to talk to you about, maybe I needed to give you proofs of the resurrection. We go the apologetics route. Some people love that. These are reasons we know that Jesus has risen from the dead. And I decided against it.
[00:03:47] What I think the Lord has laid on my heart to share with you this morning is just a big so what? And in our church at Ville church East, this is kind of where we park every single Sunday. We'll do a message and then we'll end up with, so what? How does this change anything about my life today? I'm gonna still go home and struggle with all the same weird kids and weird people that I have to deal with and weird parents. I still have to deal with weird relationships and suffering. And I'll still go to a funeral this year. I'm sure of it. I'll still deal with death. How does a resurrection of Jesus Christ change any of that? And in what way does it ever give me hope?
[00:04:28] I went to DC. I don't know if you know this. I want us to thank Brent. Brent is one of our elders and. Yeah, before you throw that up there, hang on a second. Brent is one of our elders and he did a message for us last week and I love listening to the message. Brent, nice job. Thank you for filling in. Let me go see my daughter down. Our whole family went down to see her in DC, and we really appreciate you. So thank you. Brent, I don't have any peas this morning. Not one. Not one pea. He was pulling peas from everywhere last Sunday. If you want to watch that online, it's still online, but I don't have any of that. Instead, when I was in DC, I noticed one thing. There is a flag on everything.
[00:05:09] You go to DC and there's a flag everywhere you look.
[00:05:14] I watched a movie a while ago called the Patriot. Have you seen the Patriot? Mel Gibson movie? Maybe it's old now. It's probably old, right? All right, so it's an oldie, but it's a goodie. I remember the scene in the patriot where the confederate army was tackling against the British. The rebels, they were about to be defeated. The British were winning the skirmish that they were having. And it's like a pivotal scene in the movie. And in the middle of the battlefield, there was this broken down structure, stone structure, that had been pelted to death with a barrage of weaponry. And so it was just barely hanging together.
[00:05:55] And as the Confederates were moving forward and the flag was in front of them, they were following the flag, and they were excited and they were going to. They were going to get their freedom away from the British.
[00:06:06] And things started going badly. The British started winning. In fact, they had reinforcements that the rebels weren't planning on.
[00:06:15] And the flag in the front got to this broken down structure on the battlefield, but then the flag went down.
[00:06:23] Mel Gibson, who's the hero of the movie, he's fighting and you're cheering for the hero, and then all of a sudden, he sees the flag go down, and he realizes that when that flag went down, his army started to lose heart and retreat.
[00:06:39] And so instead of fighting, he takes his weapon and he simply throws it, and he makes a beeline for the flag. And in the middle of the battlefield, on this broken down stone structure, he picks up the flag and he waves it back and forth, and he yells out, hold.
[00:06:58] Hold.
[00:07:00] And the army stops retreating. Instead, they see the flag and it compels them to move forward, and they get a strength. They dig down for the strength that they didn't know they had, and they move boldly forward and they win the day.
[00:07:17] A hoisted flag, what does a hoisted flag, what does a raised flag, what does it designate?
[00:07:25] What is the thing that it shows? What does it declare? I think it declares a couple of things.
[00:07:32] You put a flag on stuff because it declares victory. It declares ownership. It declares allegiance. It declares territorial authority.
[00:07:43] So if you go to DC, flags are everywhere. Now you can throw the.
[00:07:48] This is one of the bloodiest battles of the second world War. Our troops, the allies, took an incredible amount of loss, as did the enemies, and won the day. And this is a famous picture of them declaring their victory as they hoist that flag up.
[00:08:07] You can see these flags on every building in the Capitol. There's flags on the Capitol building. There's flags on every building in the Capitol. When the twin Towers went down, you remember that when the twin towers went down, the infamous picture of raising a flag in the middle of this destruction.
[00:08:25] And you know what? While we're at it, let's just put one on the moon. Right? There's a flag on the moon, for goodness sakes.
[00:08:32] Flags have a wonderful way of declaring, like, territorial authority, allegiance. It declares ownership. And on this Sunday, on Easter 2024, 2000 years ago, we celebrate in 2024, Christ's resurrection, because on this day, Jesus planted a flag in Newsweek magazine at the turn of the century. This was right around 2000.
[00:09:00] They did a poll and they asked how many Americans believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:09:06] 78% of Americans in the year 2000 believed that Jesus actually raised from the dead. They did the same poll in 2020. They asked how many Americans believe the american population believed that Jesus rose from the dead. Do you think it went up or down?
[00:09:24] It did go down, but not as much as you think it went down to 66%.
[00:09:31] In other words, the majority of the american population in which we live believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
[00:09:39] But why is it important?
[00:09:42] Why is it so important for us to believe this? And how does it affect my life today? In fact, Paul the apostle said, if we don't believe in the resurrection of the dead, all is lost. Here's a verse I'll show you in first corinthians 1517. Paul is writing all about this, and this is one of the most futile verses that you'll read in scripture. He says, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. In other words, if Jesus did not leave behind an empty tomb, we're all doomed. This life is not worth living.
[00:10:17] You think about that. It's like, you know, what? What makes your life worth living? Oh, my kids, my friends, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my wife, my husband, my relationship with those around me. What makes your life worth living? Your bank account, hopefully not your job, your car?
[00:10:37] Some people love their cars that much. I don't know. What makes your life worth living? Paul the apostle says, what makes our lives worth living is one thing, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And my question is how? How can that one event make my life worth living? I wasn't even there. It was 2000 years ago. Some guy rose from the dead. Big deal. There is something about this event that impacts our lives so that they become actually purposeful.
[00:11:16] Usually we do. So whats at the end of the message? Im doing so whats all the way through. In fact, I have five for you. So here we go. Number one, the whole message today is, so what? Resurrection of Jesus.
[00:11:30] So what?
[00:11:32] Number one, Jesus resurrection was not just a spectacular event that took place and suddenly it was the end of the story.
[00:11:42] In fact, Jesus resurrection took place and it was really the beginning of the story.
[00:11:50] Belief in that one event, listen to this now. Belief in that one event upset the religious elements of Jesus day. It drove men to martyrdom to be killed for their faith. Every one of the disciples that saw Jesus rise from the dead saw him afterwards. Every one of them went to their death for their faith, and many men and many women beyond them.
[00:12:18] It spurred a revolution that would never be forgotten in history. We have church on Sunday because it is the celebration of Jesus raising from the dead. Every single Sunday is resurrection Sunday. This is like the woo, the big Sunday, but every Sunday is a celebration of Jesus resurrection from the dead. And in Jesus day, the political rulers of the day had to lie about it. They had to hide it. They bribed people to shut up about it, and they pretended it never happened.
[00:12:50] Why?
[00:12:52] Why is some guy raising, I mean, it's a big deal, don't get me wrong, but why is it so important that it affected all of human history?
[00:13:04] Even in Paul's day, when Christianity was catching fire, there were simply some who couldn't wrap their minds around the idea about a guy raising from the dead.
[00:13:14] And he wrote to them in one corinthians 15. Again, the same passage, one corinthians 1512. Paul says, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection from the dead? Even in Paul the apostles day, this was only like 20 years beyond Jesus resurrection. 15 years beyond Jesus resurrection. Paul was dealing with people that said, yeah, I'm into Christianity, but I'm not into that whole resurrection thing.
[00:13:44] In fact, believing in the resurrection story is essential to God's overall story for humankind, what God is doing in the world. You want to make sense of it. You want to look into the world today in all the confusion and the chaos and quite frankly, the insanity that's going on today, and think to yourself, is there any order in any of this?
[00:14:10] The resurrection brings all of that into light.
[00:14:14] In one corinthians 15, same chapter back up in verse three, it says this, for I delivered to you. Paul the apostle writes to the church at Corinth and to us.
[00:14:23] He says, this is of the. Which importance? Second importance. Third importance, fifth importance. What is this? This is of first importance.
[00:14:32] This is the most important thing. Should you love one another? Yeah, that's really important.
[00:14:41] Should you serve one another? Yeah, that's really important.
[00:14:45] Should you sacrifice for one another? Yeah. Should you do what Jesus did? Yeah. Should you live righteously? Yeah, that's really important. But you want to know what is the first thing of most importance? Here it is. I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, and that what does it say church. He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:15:18] The gospel literally means good news. You cannot tell the good news of God without including the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:15:29] You cannot come to a relationship with God without going through the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:15:39] You cannot deal with your sinful soul without dealing with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the good news. It is the gospel.
[00:15:50] And apparently there's a continuing purpose to such an event, even that reaches to our life today. Which brings us to number two. God tells us himself through his word why the resurrection is so essential. He doesn't leave it up to wonder. He doesn't leave it up to chance. He doesn't say. Now study this and think about it for a while. He tells us why this is so important. I take you back to one corinthians 1521, and here's why it's so important.
[00:16:18] For as by amen came death. Who's that man? Church.
[00:16:23] No, as by amen came death. Who brought death to us? Church. Adam. Adam. Yes. We're all going to have a word or two with Adam when we see him, right? Yeah, I'm going to have a conversation with Adam. For as by one man came death. By a man also has come the resurrection of the dead. Who is the man that brought the resurrection of the dead? Jesus. For as in Adam, all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
[00:16:56] That's why the Bible calls Jesus the better Adam.
[00:17:01] Adam was created by God, innocent. Not sinless, but innocent. He had the ability to sin, and he did and Eve did, and it was their choice to do so. Jesus Christ came to us sinless, and he retained sinlessness.
[00:17:19] Adam and Eve were given this unique ability. They could rebel against God or they could love him day after day after day.
[00:17:28] But their choice was made, and they chose rebellion. And with that, a flag was planted in this earth, and it was not the flag of God.
[00:17:39] A flag was planted. It became the domain of the evil one. How do I know that? It's because every person from that point forward received the sin nature of Adam.
[00:17:51] You don't believe that? I'd like to meet your kids.
[00:17:56] Every kid struggles not with being so good. They blow our minds.
[00:18:01] Every kid struggles with this sin nature. And it's the job of the parents to help nurture that sin nature out of them most, hopefully, by helping them give their lives to Jesus Christ.
[00:18:14] This earth is the domain of the evil one. In fact, it says it again in Romans 512. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man. Who is that? Adam. Adam. And death through sin. So death spread to all men because all what sin? Is there anybody in here that has not sinned in their lives?
[00:18:36] No. And I'm not sticking my hand up either.
[00:18:40] That's why the Bible calls Satan the prince of the power of the air.
[00:18:46] Satan came with that flag and shoved it in the ground.
[00:18:51] And from this point forward, from Adam's sin forward, everybody was born under the flag of sin.
[00:18:59] Selfishness.
[00:19:01] And listen, the wages of sin is death, eternal death, and separation from God in hell. But the good news is, it didn't stay that way. Somebody came. The only candidate who could came, and it wasn't Mel Gibson. The only candidate who could come who could remove that flag and plant another flag of victory. And that person was Jesus Christ. He's the only one of us born on the other side. He was dropped into our world. Jesus was dropped behind enemy lines to save captives.
[00:19:39] He did not inherit Adam's sin, and he was the only one, because he was promised by God that he would be that one.
[00:19:46] His mission was to suffer every blow sin could throw at him and remain sinless.
[00:19:56] Every one of us would fail at this, to receive every temptation in the most powerful form that we could ever receive it. And we deal with that on a regular basis, right? We fight against our flesh regularly, but Jesus had every single one thrown at him. And unlike us, who failed, Jesus succeeded.
[00:20:16] Never sinned, not once.
[00:20:19] But he had to take the final blow of sin, which is death.
[00:20:24] And that is why Jesus died on the cross.
[00:20:27] That final and ultimate blow, Jesus took as well.
[00:20:33] You see, sin always cost something.
[00:20:35] And Jesus death was the price that was paid, because it was the final price sin demanded, death.
[00:20:45] Which brings me to number three.
[00:20:47] Jesus victory, through his resurrection, transfers our allegiance from evil stranglehold into Jesus freedom. If you feel like you're living in a world that is constantly pushing you down, where you are constantly struggling with sin and failing, you need to grab ahold of Jesus Christ, because Jesus has come to set us free.
[00:21:14] And those Jesus sets free are free indeed.
[00:21:20] Jesus didn't come to give you an alternative. Like choose the bad angel on your left side and the good angel on your right side as they whisper into your ears. No, no, no. Jesus came to wipe that guy off and to make you new.
[00:21:35] And when his holy spirit lives inside of us, you have the ability not just to be righteous to impress God, but you have the ability to live out Jesus Christ on this earth. The life that Jesus lived.
[00:21:48] Evil stranglehold will be pulled from your life.
[00:21:52] And Jesus freedom is offered to each one of us who choose to follow him. Those who follow this conquering hero no longer belong to this world and its evil desires.
[00:22:03] Galatians 524 it's right here after the fruit of the spirit. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have what church. They have crucified the flesh with its passions and. Yeah, those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified that stuff. It's gone.
[00:22:22] Our citizenship has been changed permanently.
[00:22:26] Look at this verse in Colossians 112. He has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of the lights. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. We still live on this planet. We still live with the flag of the evil one, who owns the prince of the power of the air. But we do not serve him because the flag that has been planted in our hearts has been planted by Jesus Christ.
[00:22:55] Living quarters are here, but our citizenship is elsewhere.
[00:23:03] And along with that comes privileges.
[00:23:06] Those who believe in Jesus have had their ownership transferred. We no longer belong to this kingdom of this world. We belong to the kingdom of heaven. We are heirs with Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance incorruptible, and it's not made with human hands. Look at one. Peter, one, three. He has caused us to be born again to a living, living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. See that resurrection there?
[00:23:27] To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you. We no longer belong to this world. We have been bought back with a price.
[00:23:39] And the price is Jesus blood.
[00:23:42] And the confidence we have that we belong to him. Is that empty tomb.
[00:23:47] That's the flag. Planned it. Victory. And that's the flag we march under. Number four.
[00:23:55] Jesus resurrection after his death was a flag plant for this world and for his followers. An empty tomb was left behind to show us who has the true authority, who truly is in charge, who has true ownership. God doesn't just want 66% of Americans to acknowledge that the resurrection happened. Acknowledging the resurrection happened doesn't do anybody any good. He wants to change 100% of how people live their lives because of the resurrection. You see, acknowledging something and believing something are two totally different things.
[00:24:32] For the best example of this, I take you to the place where the flag was raised 2000 years ago.
[00:24:39] This is why I love the Bible. The Bible invites us to walk the journey with those who walk it.
[00:24:47] And 2000 years ago, three women went to the tomb the reason they went there was because they were brokenhearted that their savior had died, Jesus had died. They didn't know what was going on.
[00:25:01] They were confused, they were saddened.
[00:25:06] They had very little idea of what would happen next.
[00:25:12] And we church are invited into the actual experience. We are invited to come and see with them as they walk to the tomb.
[00:25:20] So I invite you, instead of going with the women, let's start in the upper room.
[00:25:27] Walk with me, if you will, to the upper room where the disciples are gathered.
[00:25:33] They know the women have gone to the tomb.
[00:25:35] They are gathering because, well, we are gathering with them because we're scared.
[00:25:41] We don't know what's coming next.
[00:25:44] Jesus has died, the boss is gone, and now the rest of us are going to be hunted down, not only us, but our families.
[00:25:54] Rome is a terrible taskmaster. They do not want a revolution.
[00:26:01] And if they let this go, this Christianity stuff go, they risk losing it all.
[00:26:10] So now that Jesus is gone, the leader is gone, it's time to take out all the little ones.
[00:26:18] We are gathered in this upper room on the third day. The Passover has prevented us from doing anything.
[00:26:28] Jesus had to be taken off the cross with the other two because you can't leave dead bodies hanging around on the Passover. They had to take them down. They had to bury them. That led into a period of time when we couldn't do anything because of old Testament law. We had to stay in our homes.
[00:26:49] At the end of that time, we could go out again. We could go out. We could start living life as normal. And as soon as the sun came up, we go to the upper room. We want to figure out what we're going to do next.
[00:26:59] The women went to the tomb to honor Jesus.
[00:27:03] We gather, and it's Sunday morning, it's immediately after the Passover, and we are finally permitted to gather.
[00:27:11] As we're talking, as we're leaning over the shoulders of listening to the disciples and hearing their fear and their frustration and their confusion, as we listen into their conversation, suddenly the door breaks open and two women come through the door.
[00:27:28] Their story is not what we expect.
[00:27:30] They're breathless and they're scared.
[00:27:34] They went to the tomb. They said as soon as the sun came up, they made their way to the tomb. They knew the guards were going to be there. They knew the stone was going to be there, and they didn't care. They just wanted to be as close to the body of the one they loved as they could get.
[00:27:50] They were desperate to be near the one that meant so much to all of us.
[00:27:56] But by the time they arrived, the sun had risen just enough for them to see. The stone was not over the mouth of the tomb anymore. In fact, it was rolled away.
[00:28:07] Confused, they start thinking to themselves through the dim light, why in the world is this thing unsealed? It had been sealed with a roman seal. Nobody breaks that seal under order of death. And two guards were just here. They're not anymore. What is going on?
[00:28:27] As they get closer to the tomb, they tell us they realize Jesus body is not here. And they saw an angel.
[00:28:34] And the angel told them. The angel told them, jesus is not here.
[00:28:40] He is risen, just as he had told you he would rise.
[00:28:46] Now, I want you to just imagine for a moment that somebody had broken into the graveyard in your town.
[00:28:54] They had dug up the grave of the person you loved the most.
[00:28:58] They left the ground a mess. They tore open the coffin, they grabbed the body, and they ran. How would that affect you?
[00:29:08] Wouldn't you be outraged? Wouldn't you be confused?
[00:29:12] This is a feeling. These women were communicating in the upper room.
[00:29:17] They were horrified. Who would do such a ghastly thing?
[00:29:22] And then as they started talking about the angels, this story got really weird.
[00:29:26] Jesus had risen from the dead. The angel told them that they should have remembered this.
[00:29:32] And then right behind them, Mary breaks into the room. Mary Magdalene. Not Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary Magdalene breaks into the room.
[00:29:40] And she said, everything these ladies are saying is true. In fact, I just talked to Jesus.
[00:29:49] He told me that all of us in this room should stay here. He will be here shortly.
[00:29:57] We're listening to all of this. We're invited into this story, and God invites us to walk into this moment in the disciples lives and pick up right here from the gospel of John.
[00:30:13] Before we do that, let me just tell you this.
[00:30:17] There's a couple of disciples that are kind of impetuous.
[00:30:21] They kind of act on gut rather than thought.
[00:30:26] And it's usually the top three. Peter, James, John. It's usually them, usually Peter's first. And in this case, it happens again.
[00:30:34] Mary comes in. She says, I just talked to Jesus. And before anything else could happen, John and Peter run out of the room.
[00:30:42] We're left here. This is where we pick up in John 20, both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. So church, we're running. Let's run with the disciples. All right? And realize Peter's the faster runner here.
[00:31:00] Peter reached the tomb first.
[00:31:03] Oh, sorry. The other. Yeah, John did. John did. John Outran Peter, which kind of must have ticked Peter off, don't you think?
[00:31:10] Little weasel gets there first.
[00:31:13] And John, stooping to look in, saw the linen claws laying there, but he didn't go in.
[00:31:20] Then Simon Peter breathlessly came, grabbed him, following him and shoved his way first into the tomb.
[00:31:27] And he saw the linen cloths laying there and the face cloth which had been on Jesus head, not laying with the other linen cloths but folded up in a place all by itself.
[00:31:37] Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, then he also went in and he saw and he believed this is the part of the event that God includes for us so that we can run with the disciples, run out of the upper room, be as impetuous as them and get to the tomb and realize what's going on.
[00:32:01] My question to you, church, is this. Why did Jesus leave the clothes behind?
[00:32:07] Why did he fold them up neatly? Why did he leave them in separate piles?
[00:32:13] Why?
[00:32:15] Why did Jesus leave the door open?
[00:32:18] We know he can go through walls. He does this later on. We can talk about this later, but he can. Why does he leave the door open?
[00:32:29] Why did Jesus advertise and evidence of a once filled tomb now empty?
[00:32:37] And you're absolutely right. The reason he leaves the clothes, the reason he leaves the door open is not so that he can get out church. It's so that we can look in.
[00:32:49] It's so that we can see in and realize this is a flag planted.
[00:32:57] This establishes ownership. This establishes authority. This establishes victory.
[00:33:05] This establishes power.
[00:33:09] Why else do you think Jesus started the great commission with these words? All authority has been given to me because that empty grave is a flag plant.
[00:33:22] He leaves the tomb empty with no body in it and his grave clothes behind so that we can see and church so that we can believe.
[00:33:32] Now you might think, Craig, that's quite a stretch. That's some good preaching, but it's quite a stretch.
[00:33:40] Not really. I stole all of it from the Bible.
[00:33:44] You know why?
[00:33:45] There's two guys at the tomb. What are their names? John and Peter. John and Peter.
[00:33:51] Peter gets in first. John reaches the tomb first. Peter goes in first. He sees and then John goes in and he sees. And I have to tell you, church, the word in the bible for how they see sea is not the same.
[00:34:11] There's two words, theomi and Edo.
[00:34:19] These are the greek words for how you observe something.
[00:34:23] One of them saw and they theomi. They saw it. Theomei, by the way, is where we get the english word theorize.
[00:34:33] They thought, oh my, they saw it, and they theorized what was going on. The other guy saw it, and he idoed. He saw it with understanding, and he saw it, and he believed church. Can I just ask you, let's do a little game. Which one of those two disciples, peter or John? How do you think Peter saw the tomb? Did he Theomi or did he ido? What do you think?
[00:34:59] He thaomide.
[00:35:02] Peter Thaumide.
[00:35:04] He saw it, he observed it. He was amazed by it, but it didn't impact him here. The only guy that that happened to was the guy who idoed it. And by the way, we do the same thing. You can say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see that. Or you can go, oh, I see two different ways of observing something, right?
[00:35:29] This is the same thing. And when John saw the grave close, the open tomb, the empty tomb, John idoed. He saw and he believed. By the way, this word ido is used over 900 times in the New Testament, because we are meant to see church, and we are meant to believe.
[00:35:51] Not to theorize, but to believe. And by the way, when it says this in scripture, I'm going to read it for you one more time.
[00:35:59] Then the other disciple who reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed. Isn't that interesting? Not that verse yet, sorry. The one we just did, he saw it and he believed. That was John. John idoed and he believed. Can I just blow your mind for a second? You know what the word believed there actually means?
[00:36:20] It means faith.
[00:36:22] It's the word pistao, which means nothing to you, but it means a lot to me, because as I read this, I'm going, he idoed and he pistaod. Do you know what that actually says in English? He saw and faithed.
[00:36:40] That's how you read that.
[00:36:42] Which doesn't read very well in English. But when you do a little message like this, it goes like, oh, he saw.
[00:36:51] And faith.
[00:36:55] If a person indeed was risen from the dead, it would affect everything about this life. For every human that ever lived, every part of our lives is consumed with life and death. Every part of our lives.
[00:37:05] Think about it. What holiday does any of us observe that doesn't deal with some aspect of life or death in it? Easter aspect of life from death. Right. Halloween. Hello.
[00:37:17] Christmas. You know, life, birth, birthday of Jesus, winter solstice, Memorial Day, July 4. Even birthdays. Birthdays are. Every holiday we have is a celebration of life. We are consumed with life and death.
[00:37:35] And church. What do we spend most of our lives trying to avoid?
[00:37:40] I just hope to wake up this morning and not die, right?
[00:37:44] I just do whatever I can so I don't get killed dying of some terrible disease. Stay off the roads, right? In Illinois. If you're driving in Illinois, take your life in your hands. Listen, if somebody holds the keys to life and death, you should really get to know them. Don't you think?
[00:37:59] If someone has planted their flag over death and life, it would be really advantageous for us to get to know know them? Jesus came here on a mission to defeat the stranglehold Satan has in this world. To offer a path back to God for those who believe and to defeat sin. And its final insult to all of us, which is death.
[00:38:21] Romans six eight says it this way. Church. If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Church, let that sink in just for a minute.
[00:38:33] If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead, there it is again. It's all over the place. We'll never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. This is why we say Jesus paid it all.
[00:38:52] He paid every payment, including death, so that we won't have to.
[00:38:57] And he has planted a flag so that you can be brought to faith. Last one. Jesus. Resurrection was the necessary step for you to enter into an honest relationship with God.
[00:39:09] You must believe in the resurrection of the dead if you were to have any kind of relationship with the one who made you.
[00:39:18] This is why we say constantly, Jesus died for you.
[00:39:24] He died for the world, but he died for you.
[00:39:29] An empty cross is great.
[00:39:31] It demonstrates the battle was waged.
[00:39:34] But the empty grave is essential.
[00:39:38] That is the demonstration that the battle was won.
[00:39:45] I don't want to celebrate a battle. I'd like to celebrate the victory.
[00:39:49] And the victory is celebrated at the empty tomb.
[00:39:53] You cannot be a christian today and deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. Romans ten nine. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and church, say this with me and believe in your hearts. Read it with me that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, church. You cannot be saved without believing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is impossible. Again, I'm stealing all of this, not my thoughts. They're there.
[00:40:23] For with the heart one believes and is justified. And with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
[00:40:32] Why is this necessary? Why is this resurrection necessary? Today you're about to see why in about five minutes. Here.
[00:40:42] Romans six four. Let me take you to this verse.
[00:40:45] We were buried, therefore, by him. With him by baptism into death.
[00:40:49] In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life church. God wants to buy each one of us back individually.
[00:41:01] He has removed the flag of the evil one from this world. However, some choose to still follow it.
[00:41:09] And Jesus is willing to. If you are willing to let him establish and plant that flag in your heart, you don't have to live in slavery any longer. Jesus has come to set us free. He waged the war on the cross and he showed us victory at the empty tomb.
[00:41:32] You don't need to be under the thumb of slavery any longer. You don't need to follow the desires of this world any longer. If one more Christian comes up to me and says, Jesus will understand me and my faults and my sins because he just loves me, I am going to puke. Because Jesus didn't come to love me in my sin, he came to save me from it.
[00:41:56] The empty tomb is a demonstration. Sin is gone.
[00:42:02] We don't have to sin any longer. We will, because we're weak.
[00:42:07] But when Jesus looks at us, he doesn't see us as sinners. He sees us as those saved by grace. You don't have to impress him. Jesus has done enough impressing. You just ride to heaven on Jesus coattails.
[00:42:21] Jesus has done everything necessary for us to have a relationship with the God that created us. But you have to let him plant that flag in your life.
[00:42:31] You have to declare that he is your owner, that he is your master. He has territorial authority of your life and everything in it.
[00:42:41] And we march under the banner of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord.
[00:42:46] And the reason we do baptism is because that's our greatest demonstration, that something big has just happened like this.
