Resurrection Sunday Message
The Empty Tomb and Forgiveness of Sins
Today is
resurrection Sunday. It’s the day set apart by God throughout the universe to
declare His righteousness and His grace and His love. It’s on that first
resurrection Sunday that God brought to fulfillment His promise for complete
forgiveness to all who want forgiveness; Forgiveness to all who are willing do
the hard thing – obey Jesus Christ. Forgiveness regardless of the depth and the
depravity of their sin, or how often they committed those sins.
Complete
forgiveness. Total forgiveness.
The birth of Jesus changed the calendar from BC to AD – from history
before Christ to history Anno Domini – in the year of our Lord. When we pay our
bills tomorrow the payment will be recorded in the year 2023 – meaning we are
2,023 years into history since the birth of the Messiah. It doesn’t matter what
is your religion or even if you are an atheist – your paid bills will be
recorded according to the change in the calendar 2,000 years ago.
But while the birth of Jesus changed the calendar, the crucifixion and subsequent
resurrection of the Messiah changes our eternal destiny – changes it for all
who want it changed.
Instead of being doomed to an eternal
torment for our sins, God made a way for anyone to spend an eternity with Him
around His throne. He made that way through our Messiah who said of Himself, “I
am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me.” John 14:6
You might remember these words of this old hymn: “He was nailed to the cross
for me. He was nailed to the cross for me. On the cross crucified, for me He
died, He was nailed to the cross for me.”
Nailed for me. And nailed for you. Why? Scripture tells us the wages of sin is
death – not just physical death, but eternal death in the place called the Lake
of Fire. St. Paul tells us “The wages
of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus
our Lord.”
Jesus the sinless, spotless, pure, holy Son of God was nailed to that cross and
became as the New Testament writers called it “our propitiatory sacrifice.” He
was our substitutionary sacrifice on that Cross. Our atonement.
And when He cried out, “It is
Finished” – God accepted that sacrifice in your place and in mine.
How do we know that is true? It’s all because of the empty tomb on that first
Resurrection Sunday. It’s a part of history. Undeniable history –
undeniable for those who are willing to honestly investigate the matter.
I have three friends whom I have known for decades. I’ll call them Jim and his wife, Susie. The other friend, I’ll call Mike. All three are atheists. A few years ago, Mike’s mother died. She was 100 years old. He was grief stricken. But even to this day he tells me he likes to think she is in heaven.
Mike, the atheist, hopes to see his beloved mother in heaven.
Not too long ago, Jim and Susie lost their adult daughter to a drug overdose. Susie has sought out modern witches – they’re called ‘mediums’. Do you know why? To communicate with their daughter beyond the grave.
Let me repeat what I told you. All three are atheists. And all three, without realizing it, are proving the point that Solomon made in Ecclesiastes: “God has placed eternity into our hearts.” (See Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Why has our Father done that? So that we all, every last one of the billions of people on this planet – including my three friends – that they might seek Him whom they know in their hearts exists.
Listen, many people call us fools to believe the historical record of the physical resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. But either we are fools, or they are to disregard the record.
They call us self-deceived and pitiable to believe the historical record. But either we are deceived and pitiable, or they are who disregard it.
Such things remind me of Paul Simon’s lyrics in ‘The Boxer’: ‘I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told. I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles. Such are promises, all lies and jest. Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”
Chuck Swindoll, in his devotional for today, writes: “No need to prolong the story. Or complicate it. Or embellish it. Or try to explain it. Or defend it. Just declare it. The facts speak for themselves.”
Listen, my brothers and sisters gathered here in this place, Jesus the Christ died on that cross. Friends took Him down from that cross. They laid Him in a borrowed tomb. They rolled a stone over the entrance. And then left to mourn.
But Sunday came. And we all know what happened on that morning.
Listen to what the Holy Spirit moved the apostle Paul to write for us: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”(1 Corinthians 15:17-20)
If there is no resurrection, then Shakespeare’s Macbeth had it right: Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
If Jesus has not been resurrected from death, then He is a liar when He told John the apostle: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:17-18)
If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then YOUR life is lie. It is truly a tale told by – and lived – by an idiot. Full of sound and fury, of happiness and sorrow and pain and joy – it is all a tale told by an idiot because in the end, it all is meaningless. It was all worthless. Your life and mine was and is ultimately empty.
And that is precisely what Satan wants you to believe. It is what he wants my three friends to believe. It is what he wanted John Lennon to believe when he wrote, ““Imagine there's no heaven; It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today.”
I say – and I hope you also say – “Let them all be fools if that is what they want. Let them all be self-deceived, if that is what they want. But as for me – and as for you – we will serve the risen Lord. We will serve the risen Lord because of whom St Paul could write: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
Let me
back down from my excitement for a moment and turn our attention to some of the
things Jesus said prior to His death and resurrection – things which that
resurrection PROVE to be true and certain:
John tells us in the 11th chapter of his gospel that Lazarus, the
brother of Mary and Martha, had died. His sisters stand with Jesus outside
their brother’s grave. They are grieving – much in the same way, I suppose,
that my friends grieved at the grave site of their beloved dead.
Jesus turned to Mary and Martha and told them this astonishing promise: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”
An ASTONISHING word, isn’t it? But hear this word also. Jesus followed up His promise with this question: “Do you believe this?”
Listen! The Risen Lord, the Ever-Living Lord asks the SAME question of you and
me. “Do we believe it?” Do we believe that
all who come to Christ in repentance will live with Him forever?
Do you believe He alone is the resurrection and the life? Oh, I hope so!
Jesus said other extraordinary things during His ministry. Here are some other examples: Mark 8 – “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
He warned the crowd in Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves every word of what He said is true, and all humanity will be held accountable to what He said. ALL of humanity. It doesn’t matter what religious affiliation you might have – Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist or agnostic – unless you give your life to Messiah Jesus you will not be in heaven when you die.
As I mentioned a few minutes ago, Jesus warned: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
That’s why so many people scoff at the resurrection. If they can deceive themselves into believing Jesus did not physically rise from the dead, then they can delude themselves into believing Jesus is not the only way to receive eternal life. If they can convince themselves there are other ‘truths’ about God and the final judgement, then they can live as they choose.
Isn’t that the idea behind Frank Sinatra’s signature song?
“And now the end is here, and so I face that final curtain. My friend I'll make it clear, I'll state my case, of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and every highway. And more, much more than this; I did it my way.”
Surely, if the resurrection of Christ is a myth, then what Sinatra sang can be the clarion call of every man and woman: I did it my way. Or, as St Paul again warned in that 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians: “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32b)
But God warns us, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ affirms it: There WILL be a forever after this life is over. That’s why Scripture says it again and again: “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts . . . .” Hebrews 3:7
Listen! God’s faithfulness to His promises and His warnings – confirmed on that first Resurrection Sunday – is not an inconsequential subject of discussion over coffee.
Who among us, like my three friends, has not stood at the gravesite of someone we love? I had that most unhappy experience nearly five years ago as I stood by the casket of my mother.
For nearly 40 years Mom lived the life of Christ before her family, friends, and neighbors. She loved prayer. She loved her Bible. She never hesitated to tell others of His saving grace and forgiveness.
When I stood close to her lifeless body as it lay in her casket, grief-stricken as I was, I knew where mom REALLY was at that moment. She was with her Savior.
Oh, what comfort that brings to those who believe the promises of God for complete forgiveness of sins through Christ’s atonement, through His great and love-driven sacrifice. God tells us again and again, He is love. And because He is love, He longs for you and for me to be with Him for eternity.
Most every year, especially at our age, we lose someone we care about. And there will come a time – for some of us soon, for some of us later –there will come a time when those who love US will lose us to death.
On Friday and Saturday, Jesus lay in a dark tomb. His family and all those who loved Him thought it was all over. Darkness prevailed. But they did not know what was about to happen on the next page of the story.
Sunday was coming.
Please hear me. At this moment, your world might look very dark. It might be very cold and lonely. But because Sunday dawned for Jesus, YOUR Sunday will also dawn for you. Because of Christ’s resurrection, your light is coming. Warmth is coming. How do I know this with ABSOLUTE certainty? How can YOU know this with absolute certainty?
Because Jesus conquered death and darkness and the cold.
Because of His resurrection we have every reason now to place complete confidence in Him. To fully trust that the One who suffered death for you and me and then rose from that grave is also able to accomplish all that is good for you and me.
He is Risen!
And the faithful respond: He is Risen, indeed!
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