"He Got Up"!

HE GOT UP – Dr. Adlai Naidoo

Introduction:

French thinker, Auguste Comte, once told Thomas Carlyle that he was going to start a new religion to replace Christianity. “Very good,” replied Carlyle, “all you’ll have to do is to be crucified, rise again on the third day, and get the world to believe you are still alive. Then your new religion will have a chance.

On Jan 21st, 1924, the Soviet Congress issued a public declaration at the death of Lenin:

“His vision was colossal; his intelligence in organizing the masses was beyond belief. He was lord of the new humanity, the savior of the world.”

Yet his life came to an end and Nikolai Lenin’s lifeless body could no longer claim the titles, Supreme Leader, Lord, And Savior.

Some 1900 years before this, another declaration was issued. An angel in an open tomb Proclaimed: HE IS NOT HERE, HE IS RISEN!

No need for flowery speeches, the present tense says enough! He Is Risen!

The eternal “IS,” means joy for the present and hope for the future!

All that Lenin promised was voided by his death.

All that Christ promised is assured by His resurrection.

The difference between the “WAS” and the “IS” is the difference between Lenin & Christ, between death & life.

Jesus’ supreme credential to prove He was God was His resurrection!

Five times in the course of His life He predicted He would die, and He predicted how He would die. He predicted He would rise from the dead three days later. And it happened just like He said!

Here we are in the year 2001, in 2,000 years the world has not outlived His love, or bettered His vision, or outdated His story, or strayed from His reach!

Text:

1 Corinthians 15:51-57 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed --

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

55 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(NKJV)

John 12:23-24 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

(KJV)

I. He Got Up:

Repeat after me... “Neighbor, it’s not just a story, it’s a reality -- He got UP!

A. Many today refuse to acknowledge the Son. They talk about God and they talk about being God conscious, but they ignore the Son.

B. In our country...

60’s - seeking after a cause, wanted to belong.

70’s - “It Was Do your own thing.”

80’s - Secular humanism; God in you & raise yourself up to the level of His consciousness.

90’s – Gen X; We will do it a new way we done it your way long enough.

1. All trying to find someone/thing to worship!

C. Jesus said “No man cometh to the Father but by me.” “I am the way, the truth and the life.” “All power if given to Me.”

1. None of the other prophets could say this!

· Malachi couldn’t say it. Zephaniah, Obadiah,

Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel, none of them could say

“all power is given unto me.”

2. But when Jesus got up, He said, “All power is

given unto me in heaven & in earth.”

3. Only Jesus could say, “I am He that liveth and\

was dead but, behold, I am alive for evermore, and

I’ve got the keys to hell & death.”

D. Word of God says that, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, (isn’t that strange?) it abideth alone: but it has to die in order to bring forth much fruit.

1. Seems that a seed ought to be alive and

bring forth life!

2. But a seed’s got to go in the ground and after the seed goes in the ground, the seed’s got to die!

If the seed does not die, there’ll be no resurrected life!

E. So Jesus is the imperishable seed and he went into the dirt and He had to die, because if Jesus hadn’t died, it wouldn’t have been no redemption; but He had to die for two specific purposes: