I Am The Resurrection And The Life Series

OPEN: A fellow preacher told me about a funeral that he once conducted. He said that “Doug" was 18-year-old biker who’d rode with a rough crowd. In fact the T-shirt they buried him in said it all: "Ride hard - Die hard". The funeral home was filled with bikers, the speakers boomed out hard rock music, and the Casket held items that were important to Doug. There was a bottle of Jack Daniel's, and an abundance of Drug Paraphernalia.

The viewing lasted 2 1/2 hours. The mourners filled the room with their crying and sadness and several literally lifted the body half out of the casket as they hugged their dead friend. The bikers couldn't get over the fact that Doug was dead. (PAUSE) They were filled with despair and hopelessness because they’d come to see their friend, and it obvious… he wasn’t ever coming back.

Hebrews 2:14-15 says that Jesus became a mortal, He put on flesh and became just like us… “so that through (His) death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through FEAR OF DEATH were subject to lifelong slavery.”

That was what was happening at the funeral of this dead biker. These people literally FEARED death because it had taken their friend. And the fear of death has plagued man ever since Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden.

One man put it this way: "The Fear of Death makes us act foolishly, committing ourselves to self-destructive habits, and enslaving ourselves because we see our bodies deteriorating. We anaesthetize ourselves with drugs and alcohol. We try to act younger than we are and make fools of ourselves, sometimes even destroying our families in the process, by trying to reverse the irreversible process of aging.”

There’s no fountain of youth. There’s no way for our mortal bodies to live forever. Science might prolong our lives, but it can’t do anything about dying. Plastic surgeons might make you look like you’ve cheated death…

but you won’t. WE ALL WILL DIE ONE DAY (unless Jesus comes first).

But unlike the rest of the world, we (who belong to Christ) don’t have to be afraid of death because Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life”

ILLUS: Now, a lot of people have problems with that Biblical teaching. About 10 years ago, one of Newsweek magazine’s religious editors (Lisa Miller) put an article on the magazine’s blog the week before Easter. And in that pre-Easter article she summed up her view of Resurrection. She said “For my part I don’t buy it… This story (of Christ’s resurrection) has strained the credulity of even the most devoted believer. For, truly, it's unbelievable.”

Several times in her article she said that the idea of a physical resurrection was “Unbelievable.” It “presented credibility problems.” And, she concluded: “For my part, I don’t buy it.”

Now to be fair, she’s not the only one to have had problems with the idea. A few years back, Scripps Howard News Service, along with Ohio University, asked a cross-section of America this question: “Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected?” 54% of those surveyed said they did not believe, and 10% were undecided. SO, nearly 2/3s of Americans were saying “We don’t think it’s possible. Dead people tend to stay dead.” (http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RESURRECTION)

And in the days of Jesus, there were lots of people who had problems with this as well. The Sadducees rejected that anybody’s body would rise from the dead. And when Jesus spoke to His disciples and told them that He would die, be buried and rise again - Peter couldn’t believe it (Mt. 16:22). And when the other disciples heard the news “they were filled with grief” (Mt. 17:23). And finally, after Jesus rose from the dead, Peter and John raced to the tomb and found it empty. John 20:9 tells us when they arrived “They STILL DID NOT UNDERSTAND from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” … But He did!

ILLUS: And there’s a little tidbit from history that adds to this truth. If you recall, the Jews spread the rumor that Jesus’ disciples had stolen His body (thus explaining the absence of His body in the tomb). After Christ’s Resurrection, Claudius Caesar (the emperor of Rome) issued a decree demanding people stop stealing bodies from Judah’s sepulchers. It was found on something called “The Nazareth Inscription.” It’s a marble tablet, 24 inches by 15 inches written in the Greek language. It decreed a death penalty in Israel for anyone caught robbing bodies. (Normally, grave robbers of the time stole valuables, not bodies!) So why pass a law NOW, in Claudius’ reign? Because A BODY came up missing… the body of Jesus. (https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/even-caesar-confirmed-resurrection/?utm_source=facebook-aig&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebook-aig&fbclid=IwAR2BdhgvsVvnS1Wu2ZuFcLLQEf_gIxSsOSXrh2lG9FH6H5hk3gtl85_ivq4)