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Our man who simp is studying the scriptures to find out if this is true, if that’s true, he can miss the whole point.
When a man is studying the word of god and being sustained by as a disciple, he moves to a point of obedience.
A true disciple is searching the word of god for the principles of god to make application in his life that he might become more like god.
In touch, the teaching ministry of Doctor Charles Stanley, reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Next on in touch, the triumphant message of the resurrection.
All the gospel writers gave us great detail about the resurrection of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
And, uh, you would think that after all of that, that most anybody would believe that Jesus Christ Rosen that did.
In the book of acts, for example, the book of acts is the story of those apostles going around proclaiming that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead that he ruled and reigned in heaven.
If you read through the epistles in the new testament, you’ll find Jesus as savior, lord, and master, the one we’re to follow, to obey, to praise, and to adore, and to love, and to look for his return one of these days.
And when you come to the last book of the Bible, the book of the Revelation, you’ll find the lord Jesus Christ ruling and reigning in heaven.
Getting ready to subdue his enemies coming back to take us all home with him.
Now you would think that anybody who looked at the word of god would believe that this is what he’s teaching us that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
But it was a very difficult thing for even his disciples to believe in the resurrection.
In fact, if you will examine the scriptures, you’ll discover that nobody really believed it.
For example, Jesus tried to tell his disciples several times. Here’s what’s gonna happen.
I’m going to be falsely accused, Pharisees and the sadducees, and I’m gonna suffer many things at their hands, and I’m gonna be crucified.
I’m gonna die but I’m gonna rise again. They they never got that.
He said it over and over and over again. They never got it.
Because it was so foreign to them because this is a man who said you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father, I am the father 1.
My father could send down legions of angels And none of that did they get.
It just didn’t fit their expectation of Jesus, so they didn’t leave it. So Jesus was crucified.
They saw it. They believed that part, and they went away, saddened, broken hearted, hopeless, and helpless.
Now the reason I know they didn’t believe it is because when the ladies came to bring spices, why did they come to bring spices?
They came to bring spices to deal with a dead body.
They did not expect Jesus to be, uh, gone.
This is why they were so shocked when the tombstone was rolled away.
And then, of course, when they ran back to tell the disciples, that Jesus was not there that he had risen.
What was their reply? They said nonsense. That was their response.
Now here are the people who had walked with Jesus all those years, those 3 years, watched all of these miracles bleed the things that he said, but when he came to his dying, they could accept that after they saw it.
But to believe that he would rise from the dead even though he said it over and over and over again.
They thought it was nonsense. And then of course, those 2 disciples of his who were walking along the road of emmaus and Jesus sided up with them and they began to talk and they made this statement.
They said, talking about all the things that were going on in Jerusalem.
Then they said, we had hoped that is, you know, we thought it was gonna be this way.
And then of course, you remember that Thomas, even after the other apostles had said to him, we have seen him He said, I’m not gonna believe it until I can see him and touch him when she had the privilege of doing.
Isn’t it amazing? That those who walked so close with him who believed so much of what he said when it came to his resurrection, they just couldn’t accept the idea.
Imagine the kind of hopelessness they felt in those days before they knew that he had risen from the grave.
What kind of hopeless, helpless, horrible feeling they must have had?
But then when they knew that he’d risen, when they could accept the fact that he had risen from the grave, It absolutely radically changed their life.
And then it was the same message of the resurrection they wanted to tell the whole world.
And Jesus said to him, he said, when I go away, I’m gonna send the holy spirit, and he’s gonna be in you with you and upon you.
And when he comes, I want you to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all the creation.
Everything about it changed when they accepted the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a living reality in their life.
Well, when you accept the fact that Jesus Christ is the son of god and that he died on the cross and atone for your sins, and that he rose from the grave.
He is seated at father’s right hand.
When you’re willing to accept that, and you willing to ask him to forgive you of your sins and you willing to surrender your life to him.
Your life is gonna be radically changed just as much as theirs.
And the question is on this Easter Sunday, what about your relationship to Jesus Christ?
Do you see him as a dead man years years years ago?
Do you see him as a living Christ, the living lord, or maybe just some prophet?
Or do you see him as your personal savior and lord?
If you see him that way, you see him the proper way.
But if you only see him as a biblical character, or some historical figure or someone whom they say died and rose again, but that’s just sort of a fable.
Then my friend, you are in desperate, spiritual, hopeless condition until you understand that it isn’t something comes and goes but the Jesus resurrection became listen.
1 of the 2 foundational truths of the word of god his vicarious substitutionary atoning death at cavalry followed by his awesome resurrection of the 2 basic, listen, the 2 basic foundational principles of the entire word of god.
It all rests upon that. The scripture says he sat down at the right hand of god to intercede for you and for me.
The scripture says in first John, the second chapter, that he is now our advocate, but John wrote These things are right to you that you send not.
But if we send, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, the living son of god.
And oftentimes when people say, well, I’ve sinned against god.
I know that I’ve been saved, but I have sinned against him. What do I do now?
Here’s what he said. He said we have an advocate. We have someone who stands in our stead.
That is the crucified savior upon whom’s the sins of the whole world were placed.
That’s why you and I can know that our salvation isn’t temporary based upon how good we are, but absolutely eternal.
He seated the father’s right hand, making in a session for us, as he said, And he says he’s preparing a place for us.
You remember he says in John chapter 14, I’m going to prepare a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, I’m coming again to receive you to myself that where I am, there you’re going to be also.
And so now you and I can rejoice because not only is he alive, And not only is he sitting in the father’s right hand, but he, by the presence of the holy spirit, is living his life in me.
Every single child of god has been sealed.
By the spirit of god, we have him living on the inside of us.
Every other religion can talk about a prophet. Who died.
Only Christians can talk about the prophet who was the son of god who is still alive and still active and still working in the hearts and minds of people everywhere.
So the wonderful message for us on this Easter is that that that Jesus Christ is alive.
And not only that, but that you and I have been forgiven of our sin.
Now how would I know that?
When you go to Jerusalem, and you go to the place that Jesus probably was laid in that tomb.
He’s not there. I’ve been there. He’s not there.
And nobody, only Jesus rose from the grave.
God’s awesome testimony to us. You can trust this man because he is the son of god, and we can trust him for the forgiveness of our sins.
Now one of the wonderful things about about his resurrection is this, you and I have the promise that we’re gonna live forever.
And if you’ll think about what is, for example, this past description that so many people know for god’s the love of the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have what?
Everlasting life. Eternal life. Now how long is eternal life?
Isn’t it amazing how we sort of hesitate when we come to try to describe what’s eternal life?
It’s eternal. It’s forever life. Now that being true, we know that we’re gonna live forever.
Well, what kind of what kind of body are we gonna have?
Now if you turn to 1st Corinthians 15, which I don’t have time to get into that this morning because there’s a lot of verses there about resurrection.
We could just start right there.
But Uh, the important thing is let’s think about the kind of body Jesus head for a moment.
When Jesus was here, he had the normal body of a man. He was god and sinless.
The only difference between him and anybody else walking around was that he was the sinless son of god, but he was a normal man.
He was both deity and human. And so when he died on the cross, think about this.
He’d been beaten and beaten horribly. He had a crown of thorns shoved down on his brow.
He’d been through grief and heartache in the garden of gethsemane with a broken heart, a man of grief and sorrows.
And so when they saw him, That’s the kind of shape he was in.
Then when he was resurrected, is it in Rwanda, for example, that marrying those women and and those who saw him couldn’t at first, they didn’t quite recognize him.
You know why? Because all that sorrow and all that grief and all that blood and all that beating and all that crucifix was gone.
And now having resurrected, he had a brand new body.
It was a body that was suited for his life in those 40 days that he was going to be on earth following his resurrection.
He was resurrected with a body. First of all, that could be seen, tangible.
They felt of him, uh, Thomas put his hand there, saw the scars in his hand. He ate fish.
He ate bread. Listen. It was a human body, glorified, not human like ours now, but but human as a human being, glorified and a body that was not all that it was going to be when he when he got to heaven, but one that people could see and touch and feel.
It’s got a body head. And he says when we see him, we will be like him.
Now what does that mean? That means that our body is going to be like his glorified body when he gets to heaven.
Gonna be like his body.
Now our bodies Our glorified bodies are gonna be the kind of body that is perfectly fitted for this new purified creation.
So that we will have an eternal body that perfectly fits where we’re going to live.
So our bodies will be perfect, and we will all look the best god can make us look.
Perfectly suited when we think about heaven being our home.
And Jesus said, I’m going to prepare a place for you.
So that means that heaven’s is going to be also wherever he’s preparing it for us now, and it’s also gonna be gonna be this transformed earth that he speaks of.
He told them that he was coming to get them. And, uh, so Jesus didn’t just disappear a member.
So look if you will, in acts chapter 1 for a moment, and you recall that he said to them, he said, um, uh, I’m gonna send you someone else.
That is the Holy Spirit. He’ll be in you with you and upon you.
And he’s the one that enables us to understand the word of god.
He’s the one who equips us with spiritual gifts to do what he wants us to do.
And he’s the one who enabled you and me to accomplish and achieve in life. Here’s what he said.
Uh, when you come to the book of acts in his first chapter and Jesus has just told his disciples what was gonna happen.
The scripture says that he said to them in verse 7.
He said to them, it is not that you know the times and the seasons which the father has fixed by his own authority because they were asking when all these things are gonna happen.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all due dear and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth.
When the last things he said before He left this earth. He gave them a commission.
He said, here’s the way I want you to spend the rest of your life.
I want you to share the truth of my atoning crucifixion and my resurrection to the world of your day.
And I wanted to go on and on until it reaches the other utmost parts of the earth.
Now when he had finished saying that, the scripture says.
And after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on on a cloud received him out of their sight.
And as they were gazing intently into the sky, while he was going, the whole two men in white clothing stood by them.
They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you in the heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven.
So somebody says, well, now That being true, uh, what can we expect? Well, here’s what he said.
He said, you see how he left? That’s the way he’s coming back.
If for example, Jesus were to come back today, how would he come back the way he left?
Would he be recognized? Absolutely. And so when you think about the promises he’s made, the clear explanation in the word of god about uh what’s going to happen and and how it’s going to happen.
And uh when we get to heaven, what heaven’s gonna be like?
We can’t possibly imagine all that it’s gonna be like.
But he says in the 20 the last chapter of the book of the Revelation, listen to what he said.
He said, here’s one thing you and I can expect and anticipate, uh, when we get to heaven.
And that is we are going to do certain things.
He says beginning in verse 3 of that 22nd chapter.
There’ll be no longer any curse there of for the throne of god and that the lamb will be in it.
And his bond servants will serve him.
Then listen to what people say, well, what are we gonna do when we get to have?
We’re gonna sort of float around like angels. No. He says, 1st of all, we’re gonna serve god.
He says, we’re gonna see his face.
And he says, and his name is going to be in our foreheads.
And he says, we’re gonna reign with him forever.
All those things say to me, that we’re gonna have the kind of body that is perfectly suited for heaven We’re gonna be people who are active.
We’re going to listen. We’re gonna be sealed as his children, his name in our forehead, Heaven is gonna be the perfection of almighty god.
We are going to be serving him, loving him, worshiping him, praising him, but, listen, we are going to be active in the kingdom of god.
And when we get to heaven, are we gonna know our loved ones? Yes.
He says we will know even as we are known.
All of us have some loved ones more than likely who are there And that’s what we want.
We wanna see Jesus first, and we’d like to see our mothers or our fathers next if possible.
We don’t know how that’s gonna be, but one thing for certain.
We’re gonna know each other because remember what Jesus’ body was like.
Jesus’ body was like a human body in all of its perfection with a capacity to do all that he as the sovereign god can do.
We we’ll have bodies that are recognizable, and we can have relationships.
The depth of that relationship, I don’t know.
Some people say, well, The Bible says they’ll not be given a marriage and given in marriage. I understand that.
Well, does that mean there’ll be no relationship at all? Can’t answer that question. You know, why?
Here’s the reason why. Because we don’t know all the power god has to do what he chooses to do.
We are we can only limit it to what I see here as a person, and here’s a person, if you imagine not married relationships, friendships, but there may be something that you and I have no earthly added.
Don’t underestimate the awesome power and the love of almighty god. Will we know each other? Yes. Recognize each other?
Yes. We will. Love one another. Absolutely. How deep that loving relationship will be only god knows that.
Now watch this.
The one who brought all of this book together is the son of god. He conquered death.
That’s all the proof that I need that I can trust my whole eternity to one who conquered death and who kept every single promise he made.
So, therefore, because you and I are his children, the Bible says he’s gifted us all, Given his gifts and talents and skills and abilities and all the rest, he has a work for us to do every single one of his purpose and plan for our life.
I would ask you this simple question.
Till he comes for you, either in death, or he comes in the sky, what are you gonna be doing?
He didn’t create you to sit around do nothing.
He didn’t create you just to satisfy yourself.
He created every single one of us to serve him in some fashion.
It’s not for anybody else to tell you how to serve god.
I may try to motivate you the best I know how to serve him to be busy working in the lord’s work in some fashion, some way, smaller, great in your eyes.
But he gave us all task. And has a will and a purpose and a plan for our life.
And he desires that you and I live out our life being fruitful and having the kind of life, for which there is evident fruit loving one another, serving one another, which we’re gonna do in heaven, making our lives count for the kingdom of god.
Otherwise, how are you gonna live your life?
Since he is the source of every heartbeat we have, He’s the source of every day we live.
He’s the source of every talent, skill, and ability. And he’s the whole source of our eternal home.
Don’t you think it would be a wise idea?
But you to accept the lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
Surrender your life to him and let him through the power of the Holy Spirit, and you enable you to live out your life so that when you come to that point to die, you have no fears.
You know that you may not have been perfect in life. No one is.
Know that you’ve failed many times.
We all have, but you’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise.
You are already a part of god’s awesome inheritance. You are heaven bound.
And you don’t wanna go empty handed, but a life lived out as best you know how in a way that brings him honor and glory.
And live it out to the moment when one day somewhere sometime, morning, noon, night, when he calls your name, there’s an old gospel hymn that goes something like this.
When he calls me, I will answer. When he calls me, I will answer.
I’ll be somewhere working for my lord.
Somewhere, somehow, that’s the way you and I ought to come to the end of our life.
Being ready to meet our master, and bring him glory and live for him and with him for all eternity.
That is the promise of every child of god.
And father how grateful we are of your awesome love for us and that we don’t have to work and plead and hope and pray and beg for you to forgive us of our sins or to keep us saved.
You’ve already settled all that.
We come this morning to worship you and adore you and praise you and thank you and commit ourselves afresh and do to you.
That every day of our life will count in some fashion, in some way for somebody.
For the kingdom of god. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, I trust that you have trusted him as your savior.
If you have not, you can do it right now.
No matter where you are and what’s going on, If you will then acknowledge that you’ve sinned against almighty god and that you need him as a personal savior, and you’re willing to ask him to forgive you of your sins.
And you’re willing to surrender your life to him.
In the moment you’re willing to tell him that, and you mean it sincerely. Your sins are atoned for.
The spirit of god comes into your life. You’re forgiven of your sins.
You’re still as a child of god, and you become the inheritance of god and your name is written in the lamb’s book of life and forever and ever and ever, you’ll be a child of god.
It shows for the asking, and it’s the wisest decision any person ever makes.