I recently was a part of a memorial service where a young child was being remembered. And I don’t think that there is anything more agonizing than the loss of a child. In fact when I think about loosing my little girls, it makes feel sick with grief. And my heart really went out to the Mother of that child. And my heart goes out to anyone else here that has ever experienced the loss of a child.
In Luke 19 it is recorded that the Lord needed a colt to ride on into Jeruselum. And told His disciples to go into that village and get a colt. The disciples found the colt and started to untie it and when the owner saw this and he said “Hey that’s mine”, and the disciples said “The Lord needs it.” And they took the colt from him.
And I think the realization that parents must come to, is that their little child was released to God’s care and keeping, and the knowledge that, in the Lords good purposes, God had need of that child. The Lord needs that child. What a beautiful truth and what a marvelous application.
But I don’t want to talk about death this morning. I want to talk about being alive!
And I didn’t tell you this story because I wanted to help you to understand death. No, I want to shed some light on what God wants. And what God requires from you today, is you. Why? Because “The Lord needs it.”
Pray:
Today is Resurrection Sunday, which I feel is more significant than Christmas. This is the day 1970 years ago that Jesus rose from the dead. And this morning the Lords message is about Christ, did he really rise from the dead? But before I do that I would like to give you some understanding, some insight into why Christ’s resurrection is so important.
You see since the day of Jesus’ birth many many people, called into question the deity of Jesus. Or in other words they doubted that Jesus was really the Son of God.
When Jesus got older He performed many miracles to attest to who He is. Yet there was still a lot of people that still did not believe He was the Son of God, in fact even some of the people that were miraculously healed by Him, did not believe that he was the Son of God.
These people believed that He was just a man, just a good teacher, perhaps even a prophet, but definately not the Son of God!
The Jewish leaders (Luke 22:66 - 23:1-3) were the ones that arrested Jesus for claiming to be the Son of God, and Jesus was turned over to the Romans by the Jewish leaders to be crucified.
After Jesus was delivered over to the Romans, Jesus was sentenced to die a criminals demise. And Jesus was crucified on the cross and then he laid down His life.
He was buried in a tomb. Earlier Jesus had promised that He would rise from the grave on the 3rd day. And it was essential to the Jewish leaders that Jesus did not rise from the grave, because if he did, then it would be undeniably true that Jesus is in fact God, because only God can come back from the dead after three days in the tomb and show himself to more than 500 people.
But perhaps, I may be speaking about something that you have yet to grasp, so forgive me and let me take just one more step back before going on to Jesus’ resurrection.
You see in the old testament which was written long before Jesus was born, there are many prophesies of the Messiah, and the Jewish people were waiting and they were expecting a King to come down from heaven on a chariot and reign as King over the world from a grand throne. But instead Jesus was born in a stable.
And became a suffering servant, instead of a triumphal General.
And when Jesus began teaching, Jesus made it very clear that He was the Son of God. And he had come to save the world from their sins. Sins? What do you mean Jesus will save me from my sins? I mean why does it matter whether I sin? What is a Sin? A sin is anything that is against God.
Well let me explain what would happen before Jesus came to save the earth from its sins, You see in the Old Testament, there were always lambs being killed in the tabernacle and in other places. Why did they do that? Why would they kill innocent lambs and spill their blood and not eat them? Why? Because that is what God demanded as payment for their sins. God demanded blood, death of an innocent.
In the bible. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
And Roman 6:23 says: “For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
And if Jesus did not come down to save each one of us from all our sins, we would all have to die. A spiritual death, yes that means no heaven for us.
I’ll give you an example:
Two brothers were playing on the sandbanks by the river. The younger brother ran up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and his weight caused him to sink in quickly. So, the older boy ran up to rescue his brother.
When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?"
The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders" *pause*
You see Jesus loves us so much that He did exactly that, but He came down from heaven to earth to rescue us from death. And now we can live through Jesus. If only we believe.
And in the bible: (Isaiah 53) it says:
“Jesus was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)
Jesus made very big claims to his diety. He states in John 14:6
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus is saying, if you believe that I am the Son of God, and you believe that you have sinned against God, and turn to Jesus as your rescuer as your savoiur, then you will have eternal life, you will have peace, you will be blessed.
So back to the point, first of all Jesus if he was in fact the Son of God, then he had to die for our sins. And if in fact He was the Son of God. He had to rise from the grave. And if in fact Jesus did not rise from the grave, then all that I believe is futile and Jesus and all that he teaches in the bible is a lie.
So lets begin our look into the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection, because the resurrection if true must prove that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus is our Saviour.
A few years ago the Spokesman for the American Atheists Inc. entered into a debate with William Craig a Christian with a PH.D in theology, in front of 8000 people and with 100+ radio stations broadcasting this event. During the debate people were amazed to find out that Christianity can stand up to rational analysis and rugged scrutiny.
In the end it was no contest. Among those who had entered the auditorium that evening as avowed atheists, agnostics or skeptics an overwhelming 82% concluded that the case for Christianity had been most compelling, and an amazing 47 people came to Christ, and absolutely nobody became an atheist!
So what was so compelling? What did William Craig say that turned so many people to Christ? And what evidence was given for the resurrection of Christ?
What was so compelling was that William Craig defended the resurrection with common sense. William Craig saw, that the only thing that makes sense after looking at all the evidence for and against the resurrection, is that Christ is alive!
The Webster dictionary describes resurrection as: “to raise from the dead”.
So to prove Jesus’ resurrection we must first prove that Jesus was actually dead on the cross.
So lets take a look at the crucifixion of Jesus.
Jesus was flogged by Roman guards, and a flogging in those days was 40 lashes minus one.
History shows us that a 39 lashes by pieces of sharp rock and bone attached to leather strings, absolutely rips the back apart.
-Jesus’ was ripped open during this
-His back must have been an open wound from neck to his lower leg.
-The muscles, ligaments and veins in His back must have been exposed and lacerated.
O the agony.
Then a crown of thorns was placed upon His head. The thorns dug deeply into His head with every move.
Then a purple robe was forced upon Him, Purple being the colour of royalty, which was used to intensify the anger of the crowd.
Then the soldiers mocked Him as a King.
Then the soldiers struck Him in the face.
Pilate before sentencing Him to be crucified said to the Jews, I find no basis to crucify this man.
And in John 19:7 it says: The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
So Jesus with His bloody, beaten back, and His face covered with His blood from the thorns was forced to carry His cross from the place of sentencing to a Hill called the place of the Skull.
Jesus’ wounds were severe, and the cross was grinding into His back as He staggered under the weight of the cross.
Execution by crucifixion wasn’t meant to be a quick death. No crucifixion is the absolute cruelest way anyone can possibly die.
Crucifixion is very slow and painful and humiliating.
And when Jesus got to the Place of the Skull, or sometimes known as Calvary’s Hill. Jesus was was forced to lay down upon the cross beam and two guards placed their knee in the soft part of each of His elbows.
The executioner, a master at the art of crucifixion, took a metal spike from a pocket in his leather apron and found the hollow spot in His wrist below the hand. He would be very careful in selecting the perfect spot as to not hit a major artery.
Once he found the perfect spot, he drove the spike through with one hard blow of His hammer. The agony of the spike being driven through the major nerve that runs through the wrist would be absolutely excruciating. In fact the word excruciating was invented to describe the pain endured on the cross, as no other word could adequately describe this pain.
Excruciating has the two latin words crucify and cross in it.
After doing the other arm, the two guards would lift Jesus by the cross beam from the ground and up to the point where they could attach the cross beam to the vertical beam that had already been placed into the ground. After securing the beams, the executioner would quickly secure the feet with one spike.
Now this part of the exectution was crucial, to getting the maximum suffering from the victim. Jesus did not die from the spikes in His hands and feet. No, Jesus lived for a long time on the cross because he was secured properly. When His arms were extended and nailed on the cross, and His feet were secured with His legs bent just enough so that He can push up, then He could breath.
It is the inability to breath that kills on the cross. When Jesus hung from His arms He could breath in, but He couldn’t exhale. He needed to push up on His feet to allow His lungs to contract. So Calvary’s Hill was constantly in motion with men on the cross, moving up and down until their leg muscles could not push anymore and then they would die.
Now the skeptics say that Jesus just swooned on the cross, or fainted and didn’t actually die. And when Jesus showed himself to His disciples three days later it was actually Jesus that had never died. But that is not true.
In John 19:30 it says: “it is finished.” Was Jesus last words.
It was the day of preperation for a special sabath and the Jews didn’t want anyone hanging on crosses while they were celebrating so the guards were told to break the legs of the crucified. Obviously to speed up their death by asphixation.
But when the guards got to Jesus they noticed he was dead, but to be sure:
John 19:34 …One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
Now John, the author of the book of John in the bible. Had no reason to record the blood and water coming from the wound. But it serves as undeniable evidence that Jesus was in fact dead. Why?
The blood and the water that came out of that wound is a medical indication that the spear had hit the heart while the heart was not beating for a prolonged period. You see the blood in the heart had separated and formed two liquids, one clear like water and the other red like blood, which can only happen when the victim is in fact dead.
After this Jesus was buried in a tomb which was guarded by Roman soldiers.
But when the women came to the tomb three days later, the 2 ton rock that covered the tombs entrance was moved to the side and the tomb was empty!
In Luke 24:5 it says that the women saw two angels that said “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here He has risen!”
A fool is not necessarily stupid he just doesn’t recognize the obvious.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal they lay down for the night, and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
Watson replied, “I see millions and millions of stars.”
Holmes asked, “What does that tell you?”
Watson pondered for a minute. “Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. I observe that Saturn is in Leo. I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. I can see that God is omnipotent and that we are small and insignificant. And I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
Theb Watson said: “What does it tell you?”
Holmes was silent for a minute, then said: “Watson, you meathead. Someone has stolen our tent.”
Now I know that I am supposed to show to you intellectually how the evidence available for the resurrection proves Jesus’ deity.
But I have more obvious evidence which I want to show you.
Because nothing that I can say will ever be able to convince you that Jesus is in fact the Son of God. So the Lord would like to show you evidence of himself.
I saw a sign above the Ricky’s restaurant that says, sometimes you need to believe before you can see. And that is the truth.
You would think that if you could see Jesus right now in front of your face and he said, Hey Ian I am the Son of God and I have come to save you from your own death. Ian, I am here to restore your relationship with our Father. If you saw this you would think that you would definitely believe in Him. But we know that is not true, 2000 years ago think of all the thousands of people that came into direct contact with Jesus and did not believe in Him.
But when you believe in Him then Jesus will be revealed to you.
Today this morning is Easter Sunday, and this morning we celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead. That is why we are here. This is the morning that Jesus proved to everyone that He was Son of God. Because only the Son of God can rise from the dead. And this is the morning that Jesus defeated death for everyone that believes in Him.
And in John 3:16 it says: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God loves each one of us here today and it says that for every sinner that is saved from death there is rejoicing in heaven.
John 14:11 Jesus said, “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”
Do you want obvious evidence? Do you want to see a miracle? Take a look at the 7 believers that will be baptized this morning in the name of Jesus Christ.
Our church hasn’t had a baptism this century, that I am aware of! I think that it is an absolute miracle that there will be 7 baptisms this morning. We have seven people that are willing to be baptized in front you all this morning to say that they believe that Jesus Christ is their risen, from the grave, saviour!!!!
Baptism is to signify that like the death of Jesus on the cross they to are dead to themselves, and then when they are lifted from the water it is to show, that they have been resurrected in to a new life with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only the risen Lord can transform these lives. It is amazing that Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago and we are still to this day celebrating that He is ALIVE!!
Jesus rose from the grave for you. And he created you to know Him. Jesus is Alive. He has left us with an empty tomb to serve as a reminder that all those that believe that He is truly the Son of God will have life everlasting.
This is available if only you come to Him.
And say Lord Jesus, thank you for paying my penalty for my sins on the cross, and thank you Lord for allowing me to have eternal life with you in heaven, and Lord Jesus I believe you are the Son of God!
A very rich father loved his son, and in His will he left everything he had to his Son. But as the son got older he left his father. And the son got into bad things, the father tried to restore his relationship with his son, but his son would not have anything to do with his father, even though his father knew what was best for the son.
One day the father died and left everything he had to his faithful servant, who never left his side, and who truly loved the father and always obeyed him.
When the son came back to collect his birth right, the servant told him that he had recieved everything and the father had only left him with one thing. The son couldn’t believe what he was being told, you mean I have lost everything?
The servant said “no you haven’t lost everything, you can take one thing.”
The son said what can I take? The servant said, “The father has left you with me, because when you take me, you have everything.”
And when you have Jesus, when you know Jesus, you have everything that the father has, eternal life, joy, fellowship, and peace.
The Lord came to save us so that we may know Him, so that we may have a relationship with Him.
And If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your rescuer, as your saviour this morning. Then today is the day, today is the day that Jesus rose from the grave for you, He did it for you. Because He needs you.
If you haven’t received Christ Jesus’ free gift of salvation, then Come up this morning and we will pray for you. And remember that the “Lord needs you”. All of you.
Pray:
