What Does the Stone Mean to You?

 

In the early chapters of the book of Joshua, we discover Moses has died and God buried him in an unknown grave. God then appointed Joshua to lead Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land. As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped foot into the river, the waters stopped flowing and stood up in a heap – just as the waters of the Red Sea stood in a wall on either side of the people as they crossed over on dry land. When the nation finished crossing, Joshua commanded 12 men – one from each of the tribes of Israel – to gather twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests were standing and bring them to the shore of the Promised Land. When they’d done that, Joshua then told them to bring 12 stones from the shore and place them at the feet of the priests still in the middle of the Jordan. We now pick up the story in chapter four and verse six when Joshua says to the nation:

 

“Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

 

I want to focus our attention for a moment on what Joshua said about the stones; In years to come, when their children asked their parents, “What do these stones mean to you” – the parents were to tell them of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery.

 

With that backdrop, we now fast-forward to the first century A.D. Israel suffered under yet another despotic regime, and Almighty God sent a Deliverer – but not one they were expecting. This Deliverer entered the human race to deliver not only God's people, but all of humanity from the bondage of Satan and sin – a bondage to which MOST of humanity, even to this moment and including so many there in that dining room – a bondage to which most men and women are oblivious.

 

Let me illustrate that point this way: Have you heard of people who had cancer growing in their body, but they didn’t know it? And because they didn’t know it, they never sought medical help. And by the time they knew something was wrong, it was too late. Within a short time, they were dead.

 

That scenario of the silent cancer is not all that uncommon, and because of its silence it illustrates the deadly plight of most men and women living today. They are dying from an inevitable, albeit silent, terminal illness the Bible calls ‘sin. And most remain completely ignorant of their desperate situation. And meanwhile, sin’s cancer eats away at their souls – slowly in some cases, rapidly in others. And because they don’t recognize how sick they truly are, they have no reason to call the Great Physician for healing. And unless they come to their senses, it will be too late when the wages of sin bring about their eternal death and separation from God in hell.

 

No wonder the Lord Jesus so often warned the crowds of laity and religious: “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31b-32))

 

Which circles us back to Joshua’s stones and the question their children would ask of them in later years: “What do these stones mean TO YOU?”  

 

Fourteen hundred years after Joshua’s stones, a much more precious stone entered humanity’s story. It was that stone which was rolled away from an empty tomb just outside Jerusalem. And it is about THAT stone that children have the right to ask of their Christian parents what it means to them. It’s also a question people in the dining room this afternoon all have the right to ask the Christians at their dining room table. “What does that stone rolled away from the tomb’s entrance mean TO YOU?”

 

I suspect I know how many of you will answer that question, but I’ve learned in my 50+ years of teaching God's word that I must never make blanket assumptions about those with whom I communicate the gospel. And so, please indulge me if I tell you things that you’ve known, and believed, and loved for many years – even decades. It’s always good to hear it again and again.

 

There are so many glorious and life-changing truths inherent in the rolled-away stone that I can only scratch the proverbial surface of those truths. And certainly, such truths deserve much more than mere soundbites in response, which means today’s message is the first of two, maybe three messages in answer to the question: What does that rolled-away stone from Christ’s empty tomb mean TO YOU?

 

Well, first – and this is the fundamental answer upon which every other answer must rest: The rolled-away stone is indisputable evidence that Jesus is Almighty God incarnate. Period. End of sentence. End of discussion. Jesus is Almighty God-Who-Became-Flesh upon His conception in the Virgin’s womb. Here is only one text given us by the Holy Spirit to establish that point:

 

(John 1:1-3, 14) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being . . . ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

 

It is vital to the issue of Jesus’ deity to remember that under the Mosaic Law, anyone who blasphemed God was to be put to death. For the sake of time, we won’t turn there, but we find that commandment in Leviticus 24:16. Furthermore, blasphemies against God included false prophecies and false teaching. Listen to Deuteronomy 13:5 – “But that [lying] prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God . . . to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So, you shall purge the evil from among you.”

 

No wonder the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead because they thought He was blaspheming God when He said of Himself things like: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30). And at another time, He told them: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, ‘I AM’” (John 8:58). The Jewish leaders clearly understood that He was claiming preexistence and – just as blasphemous – Jesus claimed to be the great “I AM” of Exodus 3:14. Many of you will remember when God spoke to Moses from the Burning Bush, the text tells us God said of Himself: “I AM WHO I AM”; and [God further said to Moses], “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

 

I won’t belabor the point that Scripture repeatedly makes about Jesus’ co-existence, co-equality, and co-eternality with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So, when the stone was rolled away from the empty tomb, the Father Himself was giving His 100% stamp of approval on everything Jesus said about Himself and His relationship within the Triune Godhead. The Father made it superabundantly clear with the rolled-away stone that everything God the Son said about Himself, about sin, forgiveness, hell, eternal life, and all the rest – it was all true.

 

So, when you’re asked, “What does the rolled-away stone mean to YOU,” one of the answers ought to be that it proves beyond any logical and rational doubt that Jesus is Almighty Jehovah God incarnate – God-made-flesh.

 

But we mustn’t stop with that declaration. We must move to the application of what that stone means to you and to me. It is entirely insufficient – indeed, it is DANGEROUS to our eternal destiny – to merely give intellectual assent to the deity of Jesus and not make that truth personal in our lives.

 

That means we’d better be VERY careful about how we treat Jesus AND how we treat His name. We must be careful to give Him the same reverence and worship and honor and awe and obedience that we should always give the Father and the Holy Spirit.

 

Listen: Scripture also makes it clear that when this earth and heaven are recreated, that “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)

 

EVERY knee. Of angels and demons – including Satan himself. Every knee. Of world rulers and impoverished people who sleep under bridges. Every knee. Yours and mine. And we are very wise to live today, and every day for the rest of our lives, in utter humility before our God and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

 

“What does the rolled-away stone mean to us?” We will tell everyone who asks, the stone means Jesus is Lord, God, King, Savior, Deliver, and our best Friend.

 

And so, please, ask the Father to help us get to know Christ better and better with each passing day. Spend time with Him. Talk to Him – and listen to His voice. You will hear it when you listen for it.

 

And take time to read, reflect and memorize His word printed between the covers of your Bible. And when facing temptation or confusion or stress, respond to those things with the word of God you’ve memorized – even if that memory is imprecise. Please remember how the Lord Jesus responded to each of Satan’s temptations with Scripture.

 

Scripture tells us, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.” Proverbs 18:10) And, “Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.” (Proverbs 30:5)

 

And if you can’t think of a scripture text at the moment of need, the 23^rd Psalm is always a good place to start. Or the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.

 

Now listen, I’m speaking from experience: You’ll probably come up with all kinds of excuses to avoid getting to know Jesus better, to talk to Him, to read and reflect on His word, and to memorize Scripture. You’ll convince yourself you’re too tired, too busy, or you’re not feeling well.

 

So, here is a strategy that will enable you to actually use those excuses as ‘conversation starters” with the Lord: Tell Him how you’re feeling. Tell Him you’re too tired, or too busy, or too sleepy, or not feeling well.

 

You may be surprised when He then starts a conversation with you. Whether it be a short conversation or long, the point is – He appreciates our honesty.

 

Well, that’s the first answer we can give those who ask us what that rolled-away stone means to us. Let me now in the short time remaining begin to touch on what else we can tell the questioner about that stone.

 

It means God loves you. And He loves them. Even if we don’t believe it, the stone rolled from that empty tomb roars that truth more thunderously than ten thousand hungry lions.

 

But how, exactly, does the rolled-away stone demonstrate God's love?  Well, I’ll talk about that in more detail next week, but for now let me just quote a text where Paul writes: [Christ] was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:25)

 

In simple terms, because God loves us so much, He poured out His wrath on His Son who took our sins on His shoulders, and by His resurrection God made all who come to Christ in repentance – He made us to be without sin.

 

We’ll look much more closely at this meaning of the rolled-away stone next week, but for now, let me take a few more minutes to introduce the limitless subject of God's love for you and me.

 

As I said last week, we often say “God loves us” almost mechanically, almost without much thought to what it actually MEANS that God loves us. And I’ve thought about that question from time to time over the last 50+ years – ESPECIALLY when I remember the unspeakably horrible things I’ve done in my life. But the question of why He loves me brought me to an even more basic question: Why did God CREATE me. And, oh, yes: Why did He create YOU.

 

I hesitate to compare what I am about to compare, but I use this next illustration because it’s the only kind of relationship that comes close to answering the question of why God created us.

 

First of all, He did NOT create us – as some who have as much understanding of God as a pebble – He did NOT create us to us tell Him how great He is. He didn’t create us as a means to boost His self-esteem, or so that He could push His weight around and tell us what to do and what not to do.

 

No, none of those reasons even begins to rise to the lowest level of stupidity. So, why did God create us? Because God is Love, and everything He does is rooted in Love. And although there aren’t any biblical texts that say, “God created men and women so He could shower His love on them,” I think it is reasonable to extrapolate from Scripture that God created you and me because He wanted to do just that – to shower us with His love. He created us to have INTIMATE communion with Him for all eternity. Because He loves us.

 

It might help us understand what I’m trying to say if we think of it this way: Why do married men and women who deeply love each other want to ‘make’ children? At its very root, isn’t it because they want to share their love with their children. And if that’s true of men and women created in the image of God, then how can we think that God doesn’t want to share His love with you and me? Of course, He does.

 

Please think on that a long moment: God created you to LOVE YOU. YOU! Say your name out loud – He created you to love you. Listen to how God guided the Psalmist to record it in Psalm 139:

 

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. . . . ⁷ Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me . . . ¹³ For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

 

Please, please hear me: Those are only two of the many things that rolled-away stone means – what if SHOULD mean – to you and to me. Those are only two of the things we can tell those who question us about the meaning of that rolled-away stone: Jesus is Almighty God incarnate, and OH! How He loves you. Oh, how He loves me. Oh, how He loves you and me.”

 

I expected my time to disappear when I got to this point in the message, so next week I will pick up here, where we left off. But until that time, I hope you will spend time this week rehearsing for yourself what that rolled-away stone means to you – the stone that speaks far, far better than Joshua’s stones – and how grateful to God you are for all that it means to you, and to everyone with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts open to receive His boundless love.

 

Keep Fishing

 Several things caught my attention again as I read this morning in chapter five of Luke’s gospel. Let me share only one. Here is part of the section that begins in the first verse. I quote now from verse four. Please pay special note to verses five and six:

"When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break.”

Application: Even if it seems you’re accomplishing nothing for the Lord in your work for Him – KEEP WORKING. KEEP FISHING.

Remember what St Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Now read this word from Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

Satan wants us discouraged about our work for Jesus. He wants us to quit. He wants us to be ineffective. But read Luke 5:5 again: “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

Christian – some plant. Some water. But GOD alone causes the growth. So, be encouraged. WE DO NOT NEED TO SEE RESULTS NOW. If we are faithful to the work He has called us to do, we will see the results later – where it counts – in heaven.

Keep fishing.

How Could We Know?

My message today centers around the wealth – the unimaginable wealth and value – the riches our Creator offers us throughout our lives, day by day through His infallible, inerrant, and fully inspired Scriptures. St Paul speaks of that wealth in his letter to the Christians at Colossae. In it he asks of the Father: “That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3)

 

Paul is certainly not the only writer of Holy Scripture to recognize the riches inherent in God's infallible and inerrant word. Agur – one of the writers of the Proverbs, is another. Listen to what he wrote: (Proverbs 30:5) “Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”

 

But one might ask, “Tested when and by whom?” Answer? At the time of Paul’s writing, tested by more than 1500 years of the testimonies of God's people to the truthfulness and faithfulness and efficacy of God's word as it relates to life and death and beyond to eternity.

 

As a young man approaching the seasoned age of 18, I didn’t know about the Bible’s value. Nor did I care. To that point I’d led my life as an irreligious Jew quite comfortably. What more could the Bible give to me? And some of you here today might have a similar story from your past – the Bible was just not that important to your life.

 

I remember the time I got curious about the Bible – specifically, I wondered what all the fuss was about, especially the New Testament. So, I got a copy of the Scriptures, turned to the New Testament, and started reading at the beginning – where I thought all books should be started. This is what I read as I opened Matthew’s gospel:

 

“The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.”

 

I had a very vague recollection of those names – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – but that was where my recollection ended.  We never even owned a Bible as I was growing up in my mother’s house. I rarely went to synagogue as a child. I never heard the names of Bible characters at home or even in school – except for a rare and passing reference to Moses.

 

Anyway, I continued reading: Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.” Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of

Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah . . .

 

And it was there that I stopped reading. Not only could I not pronounce most of those names, but I had no clue who they were, except for David and maybe Solomon.  And I thought to myself, “What’s all the fuss about the New Testament? It’s a boring book.”

 

I closed the book and didn’t go back to it for a few more years. And that was a tragic mistake. I use that word, ‘tragic’ on purpose. When I didn’t know the wealth of God's word, when I didn’t know the hope and purpose and comfort and joy of hearing His voice in my mind as I read His word – when I didn’t know those things, I simply did what most of humanity does in their ignorance of God. I did as much as I could and as often as I could – ‘My way.’

 

Frank Sinatra’s signature song describes how I lived for the several years between my senior year in high school and when God finally brought me to Himself. Like Sammy Davis Junior’s popular song, “I Gotta Be Me” – I convinced myself that the best way to be happy was to ‘Be Me.’ And I didn’t care much if ‘being me’ was hurting others.

 

And, Oh! How I hurt others. And that is why those years were for me tragic, with memories that linger to this very moment. But just as tragic, some of you listening to me have had similar experiences before you finally understood and sought for the wealth buried in the pages of your Bible.

I returned to the Bible several years later when I read a book about Bible prophecy. In Hal Lindsay’s ‘The Late Great Planet Earth,’ Lindsay explained what else was in the Bible besides those unpronounceable names in that first chapter of Matthew’s gospel. He explained the promises God makes to me, even in the middle of my empty life. Promises I’d never known about, but promises I so desperately, at that time in my life, needed.

 

Like what? The same promises every person in this room needs to hear and receive into their hearts as unassailable truth. Promises of hope. Promises of His unconditional love. Promises of grace. And mercy. And comfort. And promises of His forgiveness – every time, every time I truly repent.

 

Oh, how I needed His forgiveness. Just as you do, also. And listen, when we repent of our sins – as egregious as those sins might be – God promises in His word to not only IMMEDIATELY forgive those sins, but He also promises to immediately erase those sins from His memory.

 

I’ll repeat that for emphasis. When God forgives our confessed sins – as horrible and wicked as any of those sins might have been – when God forgives our sins, He considers them as if WE NEVER COMMITTED THEM. That’s what the word ‘remission’ means – He views those sins as if we never committed them. Listen to Jesus, speaking only hours before He would spill His blood on Calvary’s cross as our atonement: “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28)

 

Here also is Psalm 103:11-12 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. ¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

 

And the prophet Micah: (Micah 7:18-19) “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

 

But the Bible is not only rich with God's promises, but they also are His flawless instructions for an abundant life, a fruitful life, a life that brings glory to our Creator, a life that elicits from us a worthy reverence and devotion to the one who died in our place so that we might live forever. Can anyone begin to fathom the incredible wealth the Bible is to anyone with open hearts? Scripture asks: (Job 11:7-8): “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? “They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?”

 

And because the Scriptures are God’s voice to humanity in printed form, it logically follows that: (2 Timothy 3:16-17) “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man [or woman] of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for all good works.”

 

Yes, God's voice in printed form is of inconceivable value, and only those who immerse themselves in its words and study its precepts can catch a glimpse of it worth. Don’t neglect it. Please, because “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”  (Romans 10:17)

 

Oh. So many promises He made to me. But I never knew of them. Just as you also did not know of them until you heard someone read them to you from the Bible – or you read them yourself in your own Bible.

 

One of the texts I memorized a while ago is this one from Jeremiah’s prophecy: (Jeremiah 33:3) “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

 

Aren’t there things you would like to know about life itself– and about YOUR life in particular? Aren’t there things you would like to know about HIM – Who He is, and why He loves you? Aren’t there things you’d like to know about faith and what it MEANS to have a faith that brings eternal salvation?

 

Of course, there are – if you’re someone who thinks for yourself and doesn’t care what the culture tells you about those things. For example, the culture, and a growing abundance of pastors and theologians – including Pope Frances –will tell you that all religions lead to God. But what does God say about the subject? We won’t know for certain unless we read it ourselves.

 

Or, the culture will say to a person suffering emotional or physical pain, or loneliness, or living in a horrible life-circumstance – they’ll say something along the lines of: Surely you don’t believe God loves you do you? Look how you’re suffering. Why would a God – if He exists at all – why would an all-powerful God who is supposed to love you – why would He let you suffer like this?

 

And the person suffering through life will not know God’s answer to those accusations unless he reads it for himself in God's Book.

 

The culture and many of our neighbors also have much to say in approval about some social issues such as abortion, ‘gay sex,’ adultery, fornication, and transgenderism. But you won’t know what God has to say about those things unless you read it for yourself.

 

Ah . . . so many questions. Important questions. Life-altering and life-challenging questions – questions that can ONLY be fully and truthfully answered by God when we read His word again and again – because His word is a living document. It speaks to us where we are at any point in our life-journey because the Bible is not – as many will tell you – an archaic compendium of inaccurate history and ancient myths. No, rather, it is a supernatural book. A living book. A book that knows more about YOU and me than we know of ourselves.

 

Whether it’s the wisdom literature of scripture, or poetry, or history, or prophecy – it’s all His voice in printed form, and therefore speaks to us every time we read it with an open heart. It probes us. It examines us. It challenges us and CHANGES us – if we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. Listen, please, The Bible WILL accomplish wonderful things in our lives – if we don’t leave it a closed book.

 

Yes, call to Him and He WILL answer. Expect Him to tell you things about yourself and about Him as you read His word. Oh, please listen, and I say it again for emphasis: God has SO MUCH to tell those who want to hear from Him.

 

Let me give you yet another example of what He wants us to know: If we hadn’t read the Bible, we wouldn’t know of His personal, passionate, and intimate love for us. Individually. By name.

 

How often do we say the words so glibly, so mechanically: “God loves us”? And if not for the voice of God on the printed page, the best anyone could do is guess at what it means to say, ‘God loves us.’ But then we read about Calvary, and no one who knows the story, no one who believes the story, no one who understands the story can ever say or even think, “God doesn’t love me.”

 

No wonder the deeply penitent apostle Paul – with his murderous history of ravaging the early Church, complicit in the execution of Christians – no wonder he could tell EVERY penitent sinner what they’d never know if they didn’t read the Book: (1 Timothy 1:15-16)  “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” 

 

It is BECAUSE we read it in God's book, we know that when we repent of our sins that He utterly and eternally forgives those sins, regardless of how horrible those sins were.

 

And – please get this – not only does He forgive those sins, but He ERASES those sins from His memory. He chooses to view those confessed sins as if we never committed them. It’s like the difference between how the Etch-A-Sketch works, and the Magic Slate.

 

And once again, let me say it as I bring this message to a close: I wouldn’t know ANY of these things if I hadn’t read it in God’s infallible, inerrant, and fully inspired word that we call the Bible. And YOU would not know these things unless you had read it for yourself.

 

Listen, just because you hear a preacher preach each week – or even if you listen to one every day – you’re only getting snatches of Bible texts here and there – and often out of context with the rest of the chapter, or the book in which those texts are found. It’s like opening a best-selling novel and reading a few paragraphs here and there on random pages – expecting to get a good idea of what the book is about. Who would do such a silly thing? So why do so many people in the pews do something similar with the Bible?

 

In 2022, the American Bible Society’s annual State of the Bible report found that roughly 26 million people had mostly or completely stopped reading the Bible in 2021. When Lifeway researchers surveyed their respondents, they found that one of four who DO read the Bible do not read more than a few sentences at a time.

 

Isn’t it odd that those who read one fiction or non-fiction book after the other, or who routinely spend hours in front of the TV – isn’t it odd that so many of them don’t make time to even begin to plumb the depths of the vast wealth of the book of Books?

 

I know many of you regularly read the Bible. Many also read the entire Bible every year. But there may be some here who need to do better in seeking God's voice through the pages of His Scriptures.

 

Please. If that is you, please plan to do better. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a love for His word because a love for His word is NOT something that comes naturally to us. Our sin-nature doesn’t want to know what God says and will give us all kinds of excuses to leave the Book on the shelf. So, please, ask Him for a passion for His word.



I will close with this: If you read at least two chapters each morning from the Old Testament and two each evening from the New – each sitting takes about 10 minutes or so – you will read the Old Testament once a year and the New Testament three times a year. It’s simply a matter of math.

 

If you have access to the internet, you can find lots of Annual Bible Reading plans. You can also take the pamphlet I’ve written. But whatever you do – become a better student of God's word. We cannot know the wealth of God's Book unless we call to Him – and seek Him through consistent reading of His word. We cannot uncover the treasure trove that God offers us unless we patiently, consistently, and humbly seek it with all our hearts.

 

 

He Ain't Lying to Us

 

My primary text for today’s message is from the 15^th chapter of St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It is a familiar passage to many of you and is often the focus of messages in Protestant and Catholic churches during the Easter season during which we fix our attention on the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  Here is the text:

 

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.”

 

I want to stop here only for a moment and emphasize Paul’s point. If Jesus was not physically resurrected from death, then our Christian faith is based on lies and falsehood. And, as Paul will say in a moment – if Jesus did not physically rise from death, we are without hope whatsoever for eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins.

 

Let me repeat that crucial point:  We are without hope for eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins.

 

Let me now continue with verse three: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. . . ¹² Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. . . [and] your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

 

Some of you might wonder why I am making a point to preach once again on the resurrection of Jesus. I often mention His resurrection during the year – sometimes just in passing, sometimes going into a bit more detail. So why again today – this time devoting an entire sermon to this historical truth? Well, let me tell you why at the outset of my words today:

 

St Peter wrote his two letters around 66 AD. By this time the Church had spread well beyond Jerusalem and into the surrounding nations. But by this time several heresies were also making their way through Jerusalem and into the surrounding nations. One of those heresies denied the physical resurrection of the Christ. Satan knows very well – far better than anyone of flesh and blood can know – that without faith in the historicity of Christ’s resurrection, the Christianity taught by the apostles evaporates – along with any hope for eternal salvation.

 

And so, Peter, knowing the horrible and eternal fate that awaited those who denied the resurrection, wrote this in his second letter:

 

(2 Peter 1:12-15) “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.”

 

Now then, I do not have a premonition of my impending death, but Peter makes a very important point, especially knowing the human propensity to forget things we’ve been told – sometimes what we’ve been told over and over.  So, Peter wanted to make sure he told them the truth one more time, even though they already knew it. And I also want to make sure you hear it one more time – even though you already know it.

 

Peter was not alone in his fear for the fledgling Church. Paul, writing at around the same time warned the Christians at Colossae: (Colossians 2:8) “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 

 

Jude also warned his audience: (Jude 4) “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

 

Christian, Satan is still alive and well and walking among the churches, employing the same playbook he has been using since the Garden of Eden when he seduced Eve to doubt God's word. You will remember what he said to our first mother: (Genesis 3:1) - “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

 

In other words – and I paraphrase verse four – “Eve, do you really believe that nonsense? Surely, you will not die if you disobey Him.’

 

Fast forward to this century. As I researched for this sermon, I came across a 2019 article from ‘Crosswalk.com.* Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, stated she “doesn’t believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, the power of prayer, a literal heaven, or miracles.”  

 

When the seminary was founded in 1836, Professors were required to affirm they believed “the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the word of God” and the “only infallible rule of faith and practice.” 

 

How times have changed. And Union Theological Seminary is only one of a growing list of seminaries where the physical resurrection of Christ is no longer a required doctrinal belief.  Therefore, it should surprise no one that a growing number of churches being pastored by graduates of such seminaries are now teaching their congregations to disbelieve that essential Biblical truth – a truth essential to salvation.

 

Yes, Satan is alive and well in our churches. And I will also remind you of Paul’s warning to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.”

 

Do you realize that if Jesus did not physically and bodily rise from the dead on the third day, if it’s all a lie, if it’s all made up, then you and I have no rational reason to trust ANY of the Scriptures. If the resurrection is a lie, then you have no justifiable reason to look forward to eternity with the Father. Indeed, the ONLY thing we would have in our future after death is eternal separation from the Holy, Holy God who will never receive any sin – even lingering sin – into His presence.

 

I can quote for you multiple texts in both the Old and New Testaments

which demonstrate that Jesus rose from the dead FOR our salvation. But if a person is disinclined to believe the Bible is the fully inerrant, infallible, and divinely inspired word of God – as is not taught in many seminaries and from church pulpits – then those texts are not going to satisfy him or her. And yet, if someone doesn’t believe in the biblical record of Christ’s resurrection, then these questions ought to be asked and answered:

 

“Are you certain that your sins have been forgiven? If your answer is yes, then on what basis do you believe that? If it based on the promises of God to the penitent, then why do you pick and choose what Scriptures you will believe and what you will ignore?

 

Christian, listen! We do not have the option or the right to choose what we will believe and what we will not believe. Faith in the 100% inerrancy, infallibility, and divine inspiration of God's word is an ‘all-or-nothing’ faith if we hope to face life AND death with a godly confidence.

 

Listen, please. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then no one can reasonably have confidence that their sins are forgiven. Here again is Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. . . [and] your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

 

And here yet is another question we might ask those who deny the resurrection of Jesus: “Where is the body?”

 

The story of the resurrection that circulated among the apostles and the early church converts could have immediately been silenced within the first hour that it began. All that the Roman soldiers and the Jewish religious leaders needed to do was to produce the dead body of Jesus. They certainly knew where He was buried. They themselves had set a guard AND a seal across the tomb.

 

But the corpse of Jesus was nowhere to be found. And THAT is the question every resurrection denier has tried to answer for the last two thousand years. In fact, honest investigators – such as Josh McDowell (author of ‘Evidence that Demands a Verdict,” and “More than a Carpenter’), and Lee Strobel, (author of ‘The Case for Christ’) – set out to answer as they tried to expose the story as a myth.

 

At first, Strobel, who was a former legal editor for the Chicago Tribune, thought the Christian faith was merely a crutch for people who couldn’t face life on their own. After his wife became a Christian, Stroble spent the next 21 months investigating the resurrection claims of the New Testament and other historical documents from the era. At the end of his investigations he wrote in his book, “I was ambushed by the amount and quality of the evidence that Jesus is the unique Son of God.”

 

Where is the body? You will hear all kinds of absurd and even outrageous theories – none of which has ever, in 2000 years, held up to even the most superficial scrutiny. For example, some have fallen for the ridiculous claim that the disciples went to the wrong tomb – which is why they couldn’t find Jesus’ body. Yet, as I said a moment ago, the soldiers and the Jewish leaders knew exactly where Jesus was entombed.

 

Others like to say the disciples stole the body from the tomb. Now, how much sense does THAT make, knowing that each of the apostles could have avoided torturous martyrdom if they denied the resurrection since they all KNEW it was a lie.

 

There are other equally ridiculous ideas that have circulated for 2000 years as unbelievers tried and try to dissuade men and women from coming to faith, and perhaps at some time I will specifically address them. But for now, let me say this by way of encouragement:

 

People – whoever they are and regardless of their academic or theological degrees – no one rejects the existence God or the resurrection of the Son of God for intellectual reasons, despite their protestations. People reject the existence of God and the resurrection of the Son of God for moral reasons.

 

This is not MY opinion. It’s what Jesus Himself said. Listen to Him in John 3:19-20 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

 

When people embrace the stunningly absurd theories that try to do away with the reality of the resurrection, when they convince themselves – and make no mistake, most people who reject Christ’s resurrection HAVE convinced themselves – when they do that it is because they realize that if Jesus came back from the dead then that means He is God.

 

AND, if Jesus is not God, then He won’t be the one who judges them after death. And if He is not going to judge them after death, they can live how they choose without fear of a final judgment.

 

Rejecting the resurrection of Christ DESPITE the overwhelming historical evidence of His resurrection – rejecting the truth really makes a lot of sense for someone who wants to live life their way, and not God’s way.

 

Christian – The reason your sins are GONE is not only because of your confession of those sins to God. Your sins are gone because Jesus physically rose from the tomb. Here again is Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 – and by the way, if it has been a while since you read that chapter, I urge you to do so today. It is only one chapter, but it WILL bolster your faith in what God has done for us:

 

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then . . . your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

 

The historical evidence of Jesus’ physical resurrection is as verifiable as is the history of who won the baseball World Series last year. You do not need to back down from your proclamation and your unwavering belief in Christ’s resurrection – even if someone with a dozen Ph.Ds challenges you.

God's word will ALWAYS prove to be infallible, without error, and fully inspired by God Himself. You can stake your reputation and even your life on it – as our Christian brothers and sisters have done for 2,000 years.

Because Jesus physically rose from the grave, so ALSO will every true Christian rise from their own grave.

I will repeat that for emphasis: Because Jesus rose from the dead, YOU ALSO will be PHYSICALLY raised when King Jesus returns to earth on the last day.

That’s one reason it’s called the ‘gospel’ – which means, the ‘good news.’

My brothers and sisters – you can trust what God has told us in His word. He ain’t lying to us.

 

* https://www.crosswalk.com/headlines/contributors/michael-foust/seminary-president-admits-she-doesn-t-believe-in-heaven-miracles-or-christ-s-resurrection.html