The H-O-P-E Of Easter

INTRODUCTION

-Q: Wouldn’t you have liked to have been one of those who got to go to the tomb early on that resurrection morning?

-I would have

-I’m sure I, like they were, would have experienced many different emotions

-Uncertainty, fear, joy, sorrow, peace

-But, I believe the greatest thing that happened to them that day was that they experienced more than feelings, they experienced a fact

-That fact was hope

-Which is not a feeling

-It is not even a longing

-It is an assurance of what we have not seen

-In essence, something akin to faith

-The resurrection of Christ gives us hope in four ways

H - ealing

1. In the present

-Many in this church have experienced this

-Many in this church we are praying to experience this

-The resurrection means that the great healer who walked this earth and healed many who were blind, lame, demon possessed, deaf, dumb, lepers, hemorrhaging, paralyzed, bedridden and otherwise infirmed is alive and well and still able to heal

-I’m not preaching a health, wealth and prosperity gospel here today

-But I do believe that God still heals

-I believe that God heals less frequently than we would like sometimes because we lack faith or our hope in healing is diminished

-But today, I want to remind you, that the resurrection gives us a firm hope in present day healing

2. In the future

-Even after death

-You see, death for the believer is the ultimate form of healing

-Paul said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

-Q: Who Wants To Go To Heaven?

-“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die - UNKNOWN”

-The fact is, death is the only way there

-At least until Christ returns

-Which could be at any time

-But the vast majority of all believers will only enter heaven through death

-Gloriously, at death, the believer is transported into the presence of the Lord

-Q: What did Jesus say to the repentant, dying thief?

-“Today, you will be with Me in paradise”

-All of this is only made possible because Christ conquered death

-The Sadducees were wrong because they did not believe in a bodily resurrection

-That is why they are sad, you see

O - neness

1. With each other

-Ever since the murder of Abel by Cain, man has sought oneness

-It was increased through the incident at the Tower of Babel

-We just lack like-mindedness many times

-This is not necessarily a bad thing

-Different Is Not Bad, Just Different

-After the crucifixion, the disciples had scattered

-Some were even going back to their old ways of living

-But, when Jesus rose from the grave, they came back together again

-You see, when we are living with our eyes fixed on the empty tomb, we will focus on our commonalities much more than our differences

2. With God

-The problem is, sin has separated us from God

-The cross was the payment for sin

-But the empty tomb was the cashing of the check

-We can be made one with God just as Christ is one with the Father

-We are joint heirs with Jesus

-In essence, He is our brother

-Not that we are God, but we are given the position of heir with Christ through our salvation

-Our relationship can be restored

-We can be on the same page

-We can walk together

-ILL: In The Garden

P - eace

-We sometimes think of peace as being impossible in this world

-We see the situations in Iraq, Iran, North Korea

-We see the battles between republicans and democrats

-We see squabbles over the immigration issue

-We see murders over petty things

-We even see fights at Little League games

-It’s true, we live in a violent, aggression filled world

-Much of this flows out of our lack of oneness

-Remember: Christ is the Prince of Peace

-The wonderful reality is that because Christ is not dead and interred in a grave, what was promised in Revelation about Him reigning on earth for 1,000 years and the result being a world full of peace is a certainty

-But, till then we have peace in the midst of the storm

-The storms of life come

-But Christ is present and eventually the winds and waves will subside at His command

E - ternal Life

-We talked earlier about hope for future healing, but the resurrection also gives hope that our future healing will be permanent

-But the resurrection of Christ means that death has no power over us

-The body may be killed

-Christ’s was

-He had to get a glorified body after he rose

-Ours will be too

-But the soul will be resurrected and given a glorified body, just as Christ was