BIBLE MESSAGES ON EASTER
Bob Marcaurelle
freesermons@homeorchurchbiblestudy.com
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Message 4
Annual Sermons: Vol. 5 No. 22
Text: 1 Cor.15:1-8;Luke 24:33 ff
Concord Baptist Church: 1991 Bob Marcaurelle
JESUS IS ALIVE!
Paul gives us here the two foundations of Christianity. First, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures! (1 Cor. 15:3). We are not saved by being good, doing better, being sincere, being baptized or being anything, but by putting our faith in and giving our lives to the One who died in our place. Then second, on the third day He rose from the dead according to the scriptures (1 Cor. 15:4). We don’t worship a dead Christ, we “serve a living Savior, He’s in the world today!”
All this points to the past, but Paul uses a word four times that blends the past with the present. He says, “He APPEARED or (WAS SEEN) to Cephas. . . . He APPEARED to the twelve (the ten - Judas and Thomas were missing - Lk. 24:33 ff). . . He APPEARED to me. . .” (His salvation on the Damascus highway - Acts 9). Or, in other words - Jesus is ALIVE, Jesus is ALIVE, Jesus is ALIVE.
The most detailed, in depth appearance was His fifth and final appearance that first Easter Sunday. He appeared to Mary, to the women, to the tow disciples on the way to Emmaus, to Peter, and finally to the ten disciples. There He urged them not to fear, showed them His hands and feet, talked of His risen “flesh and blood,” and taught them the scriptures. I have two points from the passages. First, JESUS is alive (the same Jesus, yet different) and second, Jesus is ALIVE (still appearing, still ministering, still doing the Father’s will.) Look first at. . .
I. THE PROSPECT BEFORE US - JESUS IS ALIVE
1. The Strangeness of His Body.
When Jesus rose from the dead, there was something different about Him. He had entered a new realm. His body was set free. We see this all through the resurrection appearances. He tells Mary in the garden not to touch Him. Mary and the disciples on the road did not recognize Him at first. Here He simply “appears” in the room, His body not subject to time or space or locked doors and walls.
Paul tells us our Lord’s body is a picture, a preview, a prospect, a promise of what our body will be after death. He says, “. . .He will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). How marvelous and miraculous our resurrection bodies will be!
When someone asked Paul what our body would be like, he answered, “Thou fool!” (1 Cor. 15:36) and said it would be like comparing a seed with a plant or an acorn with a mighty oak tree. Think of imagining Mars and being on Mars. Think of imagining exploring a “Dark Hole” billions of light years out in space and doing it. Think of not being subject to time or space or pain or sin and you have a picture of what we will all be in the resurrection.
2. The Sameness of His Body.
But there is another side to this. Jesus was different but He was the same. Those special, precious little things that made Jesus, Jesus were still there. We find this, too, all through the resurrection appearances. When peter and John ran to the tomb they found the napkin that had been around His head “neatly folded,” folded the way Jesus did it! When Jesus said, “Mary!”, Mary knew that voice anywhere and said, “Master!” Here in the upper room He did again for His disciples what He had always done. He calmed their fears, chided their unbelief, and taught them the scriptures. To assure them it was really Him, He showed them His hands and feet.
Before His death He told them the Holy Spirit would one day be their Comforter (stand by, friend, counselor, guide, encourager, etc.) and then explained it like this, “I will not leave you to be orphans, I WILL COME TO YOU!” (Jn. 14:198). The SAME Jesus was in the upper room and the SAME Jesus ministers to you and me in the Holy Spirit.
Think what death did to Jesus - physically! It took Him away. That mighty life was gone as gentle friends took His pale body down, drained of life and stained with His own blood. Those strong, tender hands that built plows, hugged children and cleansed lepers were now limp, scarred and still. Those feet that helped Him stand tall to aid His friends and face up to all the howling winds of temptation were limp and bloody.
His kingly head hung low and was scarred by thorns. His gentle side was ripped open by Roman steel. His piercing eyes, full of compassion, warming the soul and burning at sin, were now glazed and blind. His matchless voice, fountain of the Father’s thoughts, was stilled, to speak no more. Death took away the Jesus they knew and loved.
But the resurrection gave Him back - the same Jesus they knew and loved - different, yes, but still the same. The same facial features, the same stance and walk, the same certain look, the same handshake, the same unmistakable voice, the same everything! Jesus was back!
And that’s what God will do with those we have known and loved and sent before us into glory. He will give them back to us marvelously changed, not subject to sin or sorrow, or time and space - they will be free and strong and alive like never before. But praise God, in those precious, special ways that blend personality and body and make them who they are, they will be the same.
Over the years I have buried hundreds of precious church members, family members, loved ones and friends. And they were all different and special. The way they smiled, laughed, walked, cried, cared, joked, etc., made them who and what they are. And in heaven we will not all walk and talk and look and act alike. That would be hell!
When I was young, horror movies had crowds of zombies, all alike. Today we call them clones. Heaven will be heaven because our loved ones and us, minus sin and minus sorrow, will be the same. It is JESUS, the same precious, special, recognizable JESUS who is alive.
II. JESUS IS ALIVE - THE PRESENCE WITH US
For thirty years Jesus ministered i love and power to the mind, bodies and souls of people in need. He does the same today, through the Holy Spirit, through His body the church and through you and me. He still appears. His presence is still in the world, ministering and doing the Father’s will. We see first. . .
1. His Presence in Salvation (Rev. 3:20)
. Are you saved? Then it is because Jesus came and knocked upon the door of your heart and asked to be let in as Savior and Lord. He knocks through burdens, like the death of a loved one. He knocks through blessings like the birth of a baby or the healing of a loved one. Jesus stands knocking, waiting, hoping ad when you let Him in, rejoicing. Friend, we don’t come to Christ, He comes to us.
2. His Presence in Service (Mt. 28:18-20).
When Jesus issued His great commission, He closed with a promise, “Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age.” Whatever Jesus calls us to do, He does with us. Wherever Jesus sends us He travels beside us.
In the heart of inner Africa, the Zambeze river, a mile wide, pours over a 400 foot cliff in the breathtaking beauty of Victoria Falls. The first white man to set eyes o it was David Livingstone, the pioneer missionary to Africa. Above the falls is a giant statue of David Livingstone, a loving memorial to his sacrifices in the name of Jesus.
When Livingstone first arrived at these falls, seeking to leave coastal Africa and take the gospel to the interior, the natives with him pointed down the river and warned him not to go. They said fierce warriors lived down that river and they would kill him on the spot. Fearful and felling very much alone, he went into his tent to pray.
Livingstone had the strange habit of praying, opening his Bible and putting his finger randomly on a text to discern God’s will. He did it in that tent and the Bible opened to Matthew 28, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, AND LO I AM WITH YOU. . .”
Livingstone, on the strength of that promise, walked out and said, “Let’s go1" and the rest is history. When he died in the heart of Africa years later, the natives buried his heart in their soil out of love and respect for him. Jesus went with him and He will go with you and me, wherever He sends us to serve Him and others.
3. His Presence In our Sorrows and Joys
Jesus was the constant companion, friend and encourager of the Twelve, while He was here. And that is what He is to us today.
1) He is With Us In Our Sorrows (2 Tim. 4:16-17).
Paul told Timothy about a time when he was on trial for his life. He said, “At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. BUT THE LORD STOOD BY MY SIDE AND GAVE ME STRENGTH. . .” (2 Tim. 4:16-17). Oh, how many times we would go down beneath the waves of sorrow were it not for our loving, living Lord.
Southern Baptist’s greatest preacher was George W. Truett of Dallas. When he died, the Roman Catholic church went into mourning and that doesn’t happen once every millennium. When he was a young man, he went hunting with his best friend, a Texas Ranger.
Accidently he shot his fried in the foot. The simple wound did not heal, blood poisoning set in and his friend died. Truett went into deep shock and stated that he would never preach again. He walked the edge of insanity. He and his wife considered leaving Dallas.
Then one night, Truett, in either dreams or visions, saw Jesus three times standing by his bed. Each time the One standing there said, “Be not afraid. You are my man from now on.” Truett returned to his pulpit and churches all over Dallas moved their services to his church.
His biographer said, “Truett was never the same after that experience.” A member said his voice now “seemed to carry the burden of all the grief in the world.” Christ came and kept sorrow from crushing one of His people. Jesus is alive.!
2) He Is With Us In Our Joys.
This appearance was at a fellowship meal, a gathering of friends. It was a time of joy. Thomas Chalmers never visited on Sunday except in cases of life and death. One Sunday, having trouble working out a sermon, he went across the street to see a friend who had been ill. When the man saw Chalmers walk in, he said, “Oh God! I didn’t know I was that sick!” Our Lord is not there just in times of grief and crisis, but also of job. When you stood by an altar and said “I do!” , He was there.
He gave you that special partner. When you found the right job, when you looked into the face of your baby, when you entered your new home, when you found a friend, He was there! He is with us in life, in church, in prayer, in Bible study and in all the joys of life.
4. His Presence In Our Separation From This World (Acts 7:54-60; Jn. 14:3).
It was death that a few days earlier, had disrupted their fellowship and broken their hearts. It still does this dirty work. When Jesus announced His death and saw the grief on His friends’ faces, He gave them this promise, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn. 14:3). I agree with those like Arthur Pink, who do not see this as a reference to the Second Coming but to Christ’s coming to a Christian in the hour of death.
Several years later we see this take place. A fine young preacher named Stephen is dragged outside the city of Jerusalem for preaching the gospel. An angry mob hurls stone after stone against his beautiful body until it becomes a bloody pulp and his voice is silent in death. Before he died Stephen said, “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). And when he died, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).
Our living Lord had come to get His friend and take him to the Father’s house. That’s what death is to the Christian. It is meeting Jesus. It is greeting Jesus. I love the old hymn, “I won’t have to cross Jordan alone/Jesus died for my sins to atone/In the darkness I see/He’ll be waiting for me/I won’t have to cross Jordan alone.”
The question is, when you meet Him, will you know Him? Will you know Him as Savior or Judge? To sing the wonderful hymn, “I Won’t Have to Cross Jordan Alone: when you die, you have to sing this one while you live, “All the way my Savior leads me/What have I to ask beside/Can I doubt His tender mercy/Who through life has been my guide.”
