OPEN: Today is the 200th anniversary of the founding of the state of Indiana. Today we have members of the Cass County bi-centennial group present in worship. (We showed pictures of the group on the screen) We’ve had women dressed up to portray the various walks of life, a Union soldier, a frontiersman, and we even had Chief Logan – considered to be the founder of Logansport.
I’m dressed up as an old time preacher named Barton W. Stone. He was a famous preacher of our brotherhood from early 1800s and was involved in the founding of the Spring Creek Christian church on the north side of Logansport.
The folks we’re representing have several things in common.
They’d all been Indiana.
They’d all been in Logansport.
And they have one more thing in common.
Do you know what it is?
(PAUSE) They’re ALL DEAD.
200 years will do that to a person.
George Bernard Shaw observed "the statistics about death are very impressive—one out of one dies."
Now you may ask: why I’m talking about death this morning?
Well, the reason I’m talking about death is because the Christmas gift from Christ that we’re talking about this morning is the gift of eternal life. And you can’t talk about eternal life… without talking about death.
Jesus was born in a manger over 2000 years ago to give us the gift of eternal life.
As Hebrews 2:14 said: Jesus came to “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
People fear death!
• Now one comedian said he wasn’t afraid of death. It’s just that he didn’t want to be there when it happened!
• But Aristotle called death the thing he feared most because it appears to be the end of everything.
• Jean-Paul Sartre (an existentialist philosopher) said death “removes all meaning from life”
One survey I read said that nearly 70% of Americans feared death which leads me to believe the remaining 30% aren’t paying much attention.
Inside of each one of us there is the deep seating feeling that death isn’t right.
That death isn’t natural.
That we weren’t made to die.
The Bible teaches us that that’s true - we were not created to die.
We weren’t made to inhabit a grave.
It’s not natural.
It’s not the way things should have been.
And so because death is not natural it creates all kinds of negative emotions
Sorrow, anxiety, panic, fear, resentment, anger.
• But Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has ETERNAL LIFE. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24
• Romans 6:23 tells us. “… the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• And John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.”
You see, the reason Jesus was born was to give us eternal life.
Galatians 4:4-5 SAYS “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to REDEEM THOSE WHO WERE UNDER THE LAW...”
Now I capitalized those last words there to emphasize that Jesus came to redeem us from the Law.
The Law had several purposes.
One was to help us understand the righteousness of God. To help us understand what is right… and what is wrong. Unlike mortal cultures that change their morality from one generation to another, God’s morality was set literally in stone.
And the Law had a penalty for sin… do you know what it was?
That’s right - death!!!
The wages of sin is death.
But all that changed with Jesus.
I Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the STRENGTH OF SIN IS THE LAW.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The LAW of Moses drove home the seriousness of sin
As Romans 6:23 said: “The wages of sin (under the Law)… is death”
But Jesus took our place.
He took our punishment - He died in our stead.
And because of Jesus I don’t have to be afraid of death anymore.
When the fullness of time had come… Jesus came to give us eternal life.
ILLUS: When I was 5 years old my grandfather died. I loved him dearly and was heartbroken. After the funeral we went out to the grave site… and this was back when you could look right down into the hole. I stood at the edge of the grave and looked down into it for the longest time. Then I looked up at my mother and said “Mom, how’s grandpa ever going to get out of there?”
My mother was a Godly woman and I remember that she explained to me all about how Jesus rose from the grave – and because He rose, so would grandpa.
One more time:
The reason Jesus was BORN was so that we could have eternal life
But when did Jesus give us Eternal Life????
Did He bring eternal life when He was born in the manger?
No, that happened at THE CROSS didn’t it?
And because Jesus died and then rose from the dead… I know I will too.
Romans 8:11 promises: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies...”
If Jesus hadn’t died for us, there’d be no hope for eternal life.
Jesus died for us… in order to conquer death.
And Jesus’ the truth of His death was foreshadowed by something Wisemen brought to Him when He was a child. Do you remember the gifts the wise men brought?
Gold, Frankincense, Myrrh.
Each of those gifts pointed to something about WHO Jesus was!!!!!
Gold: A gift given because He’d become our King.
Frankincense: Frankincense was a unique incense. It was used in the worship of the Tabernacle/Temple and the people were commanded by God not to be use it for common uses. It was strictly to be used by the priests. This gift was given to Him because He’d become our Priest.
But Myrrh?
Well… let me tell you something about Myrrh.
The word “Myrrh” comes from the Hebrew “Mara” – meaning bitterness.
Back in the book of Ruth we read about Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi.
Naomi had lost her husband and sons and now she was destitute.
And so Naomi said: “Do not call me Naomi; call me MARA, for the Almighty has dealt very BITTERLY with me.” Ruth 1:20
The word Myrrh comes from the idea of bitterness that associated with pain and suffering.
And if you look at the Myrrh tree (we put a picture of one up on the screen) it looks like it’s in pain.
The way you get the resin that makes myrrh is by cutting away strips of bark.
In other words you need to cause the tree suffering and pain and the sap weeps it way out from its wounds.
Additionally (we put a picture on the screen that showed the thorns of tree) the tree is that it is protected by thorns.
Do see the parallels with Christ?
Jesus wore a crown of thorns given to Him by those who mocked him and He suffered and felt pain on the cross in order to pay for our sins.
The Prophet Isaiah spoke about this in Isaiah 53:5
“… (the Messiah) was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”
And – one more thing.
Guess what one of the major uses they had Myrrh for?
It was commonly used to embalm the dead by both the Egyptians and Jews.
John 19:38-40 “After (Jesus was taken down from the cross) Joseph of Arimathea… asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.
Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”
So when Jesus was just a baby, the Wise Men gave Him special gifts
Gold – because He Became our King.
Frankincense – Because He became our Priest.
Myrrh – because He became Our Sacrifice
Myrrh predicted Jesus’s suffering and His death.
In that simple gift the Wise men prophesied Jesus’ gift to us.
Jesus died for us in order to conquer death.
If Jesus hadn’t died for us – we’d have no hope of forgiveness.
And if He hadn’t risen from the dead - there’d be no hope for eternal life.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” John 11:25
Because Jesus rose from the dead I know I will too.
And do you know HOW I know Jesus rose from the dead?
Well – there’s the empty grave.
(Walking off the stage to a side door) About 500 years or so after Jesus walked the earth there was a man named Mohammed. He taught things that built a new religion and gathered many adherents to his faith. And then he died.
He was buried in the city of Medina, and you can visit his grave to this day.
In fact, millions of worshipers have done just that.
(I opened the door) If you were to go Medina today and were allowed to look inside the place where his body was buried… guess what you’d find?
That’s right – his body is still there.
You know why?
That’s right… because he’s dead!
(I began walking towards another door on the other side of the stage)
About 500 years before Jesus was born, another man formed a religion. His name was SIDDHARTHA – but we know him as Buddha. He taught a great many things, and gathered many adherents.
Eventually, of course, he died and they cremated him.
But they did keep a tooth. It’s stored in Sri Lanka in the Temple of the Tooth.
(Open door) If you were to go to Sri Lanka today and visited the Temple of the Tooth… guess what you’d find?
That’s right – his tooth is still there.
You know why?
That’s right – because he’s dead.
No matter which founder of which religion you may want to name they’re all in their graves.
But not Jesus.
If you were to visit the place where Jesus was buried (I opened the door to the baptistery) what do you think you’d find?
That’s right… His body’s not there.
It’s gone.
Do you know why?
Because He rose from the dead.
Because Jesus rose from the dead… I know I will too.
(I showed a picture of a hole in the ground at the area of the pool of Siloam)
When you folks sent me to Israel I saw this “hole in the ground” in the area of the pool of Siloam. It fascinated me because it was unattended and didn’t seem to have any signs describing what was down there. I tend to be a bit adventurous so I descended the stairs into this hole and was amazed to find a cistern built by the Crusaders that had occupied Jerusalem ages ago. I took a few pictures and then went back to the surface.
Reflecting on my adventure a little later it occurred to me that nobody knew I’d gone down there, and if something had happened to me… I might still be down in that hole.
But I wasn’t afraid.
Do you know why?
Because that staircase told me others had been down there before me… and that others had come out.
That’s the way it is with death.
Others have gone down into the grave before me… but Jesus came out. So I’m not afraid of death.
One more thing.
Every time someone becomes a Christian I’m remind of that truth that I will rise from the dead.
(I walked into the baptistery area – our baptistery is designed so that I can stand behind it and immerse people into Christ without getting wet).
The Bible says that when we become Christians we “die to our sins” (I Peter 2:24)
What do you do with “dead people”?
Well, you bury them, don’t you?
Romans 6 tells us we are buried in baptism with Christ (Romans 6:3)
Now, how long do I generally keep people under?
Well, it may depend on how much I like them, doesn’t it?
Eventually though, I got to let them up.
When that happens, Romans says we rise to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4)
That’s the genius of Baptism.
In that simple act God has made us two promises:
1. That when we go down into the water, our sins remain there.
2. And when we rise out of the water it reflects the promise that when Jesus returns and the trumpet call is sounded we will rise out of the grave. No earthly tomb can hold us.
CLOSE: Here’s the deal
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law...” Galatians 4:4-5
God sent His Son so that we’d have the promise of Eternal life.
But God didn’t send Him because we deserved it.
You see, that’s the mistake a lot of people make.
They think God doesn’t love them because they’ve sinned/failed/messed things up.
They believe God doesn’t want them as they are.
But Ephesians 2:1-7 tells us none of us has been good enough to be good enough for God to want “as we are.”
Ephesians tells us that “We (before we were Christians) were dead in the trespasses and sins… (we) were by nature children of wrath...
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
INVITATION
