Because He Lives

For believers, the death and resurrection of Jesus grants us the promise of an eternal home with heaven. But what does it mean for our lives right now?
Because He lives, we not only have hope for the future, we have the ability walk with Him today! Dr. Stanley explains that because of Jesus’ resurrection, we can live without worry, pray with confidence, and lead lives of godly influence.

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Next on in touch because he lives, Jesus was crucified and those who stood around him knew that he was dead.
No question in their minds about it. He was a dead man.
Nobody expected him to rise from the grave. He was a dead man crucified.
So Joseph who was one of the counsel came and asked for his body and the body was given to him.
And um the ladies came, bring in their spices and perfumes and so forth to wrap his body.
And anybody who thought about a resurrection said it was nonsense.
In fact, that’s what the Bible says, for example, but these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe them.
And we live in a world where many people still think today that it’s nonsense.
Why do you and I get together and talk about a dead man.
We get together and know in our heart that he’s not dead, that he’s alive, that he’s living within every single one of us.
So I want you to turn if you will to uh this 24th chapter of Luke.
And uh it’s always good to be reminded scripturally of what’s happening.
24th chapter of Luke beginning in the first verse.
But on the first day of the week, at the early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they prepared and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
And when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
And while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly appeared and they were in dazzling clothes, there had to be angels.
And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead?
Because they didn’t expect them to be alive. He’s not here, but he has risen.
Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee saying that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of the sinful men and be crucified and rise on the third day.
Think about how many times he talked about all this, they didn’t get that part.
They got the part about him being crucified and they didn’t like that.
The whole idea of rising from the dead was a totally unknown, unbelievable fact.
And even when the son of a God to walk with them and explained to them carefully.
They still didn’t believe it. And then the scripture says, and they remembered his words and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the 11 and to all the rest.
Now, they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James.
Also the other women with them who are telling these things to the apostles.
But these words appeared to them as nonsense.
They walked with him, listened to him, watched him, he watched them do all the, watch them raise LA from the dead.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb and looking in and John’s account of this, Peter ran, he out ran him, looked in.
Peter walked in to find out what was happening. So you and I might ask the question.
So what does that mean to you and me and I would ask you this question.
Do you really and truly believe that Jesus Christ, the son of God was buried and then walked out of a tomb.
Most people still don’t believe it. A majority of people in the world.
Absolutely do not believe that somebody could be crucified and really die and then come back alive and be seen and heard.
But you and I believe it because not only the word of God says it, but he lives within our heart and in our life, we sense his presence and power.
And so I would just like to answer the question because he does live, what does it mean to you and me personally.
So I would just simply begin by saying because he lives, we don’t have to live with loneliness in our heart.
We can live with the absolute assurance that Jesus Christ is alive and living within us.
It is exactly what he promised.
He said to his disciples, for example, before he left, he said, I don’t, I don’t, I’m not gonna leave you as orphans.
I will come again to you.
And so he said, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, he’ll be in you with you and upon you and he will enable you to do the things that I’ve called you to do.
But primarily I’m gonna be there with you.
So I’d ask you this question if you don’t believe that Jesus Christ is a resurrected lord who’s with you, who can promise you that they’ll never leave you.
Nobody. Only the living Christ can make that promise.
So because he lives and he’s not dead, you and I don’t have to live alone.
And when he made him a promise that he would never leave them nor forsake them, that’s a promise that belongs to every single child of God.
And all of us have been through situations and circumstances where we may have felt alone, wondered where God was He exactly where he said He would be living within us in the presence and the power of the Holy spirit.
So therefore, because he lives, I don’t have to be alone. I don’t have to live alone.
And many of us live by ourselves alone, but we’re not alone because the resurrected Jesus is alive within you.
You can never be alone. The second thing that I think is important because of the resurrection is this.
We don’t have to worry about whether God will provide for us or not because he promised to do that.
Now, if he had promised it and stayed on the cross, it’d be meaningless.
He promised it said to his disciples, for example, he said he would provide for them.
And in that sixth chapter of Matthew, for example, when he was assuring those early disciples of what he would do for them and making provision for him, no matter what was going on, he made that promise to them.
He said is the father takes care of the birds of the air, the grass, the flowers and all the rest that He would provide for our needs.
And I wonder how often you and I have needs and we hassle with them. We argue about them.
We tell other people about them, but we don’t turn immediately to the resurrected Christ who made you this promise that whatever need we have, he will provide that need because he doesn’t do it exactly when we think he ought to because he doesn’t do it exactly the way we think he ought to.
We think, well, God, where are you? He’s where He’s always been.
Would you not agree that Jesus would never fail to keep a promise?
He is God who came in the human flesh in order to reveal himself to us.
Therefore, this is not just another man making a promise, this is Holy God making a promise.
And so when I think about the very idea of the resurrection and the fact that He’s taken away all the uncertainty, Jesus is alive, seated at the Father’s right hand, ready to make provision for everything you and I need because He lives you.
And I can pray with confidence.
And a lot of people pray and say words, but they don’t pray with confidence, they pray and hope God listens, they hope things are gonna work out better.
They hope, hope, hope, hope, but no confidence, no assurance.
And one of my favorite passages of scripture, the Apostle John wrote in um that first John little first John book at the back of the Bible.
When he said, this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that He hears us, we know that we have the petition, we desire of Him.
And remember what Jesus said, he said, asking that she’ll be giving you seeking, you shall find knock and that she’ll be open to you for everyone who asks receives.
He did knock it’ll be open and listen.
And he says, every single thing that you and I ask in prayer according to his will, he’s gonna provide.
And I think how many times people pray with no expectation.
If you pray with no expectation, there’s something wrong because that prayer has a great crack right down the middle.
We had to pray with confidence.
And you see the only way you’re gonna pray with confidence is to believe that Jesus Christ who went to the cross and paid your sin dead in full as send it to the father is seated in his right hand to make intercession for us.
That’s what he says. If you don’t believe that, then praying is sort of futile.
The answers to our prayer.
The confidence we have in prayer is based on the fact that not Jesus was crucified, but based on the fact that he rose from the grave, was seen and listen, heard and ascended to the father.
And he says in Hebrews, he sits at the right hand of almighty God, that’s who he is.
But if you don’t believe that you have, in other words, when you pray, what do you think?
And so many people say, well, I pray and nothing happens. You know why?
Because nothing happens because you do not believe and expect and anticipate and look for an answer given to you, not by your good works, but by the living Christ because he lives everything is different, but it isn’t just because he lives, it’s because he lives and I believe he lives and I’m committed to that.
And then I think about what he said in uh also in the sermon on the mount because he lives that you and I can have a godly powerful influence in the lives of others.
And, and you, you remember he used a couple of illustrations here uh in this sermon on the mount.
And he said, for example, you are the light of the world.
He’s talking about us, his Children, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Listen to this, let your life so shine that those listen, who see your good works will glorify your father who is in heaven.
What is He saying? God intends for us to live the kind of life.
Watch this in this spiritually very dark world that you and I would be lights.
And there are people today who would like to put out our light.
The one thing about our relationship to Jesus Christ, nobody can put that light out because that is Christ living on the inside of you through the Holy Spirit.
And he intends for us to live the kind of life that we influence others.
He said, the light of the world, the salt of the earth.
And because he listened, not because he was just crucified, but because he was crucified and lives within us.
It’s not our life, it’s his life and the resurrection of Jesus Christ made all of this possible.
And then I think about this, I think about the fact that because he lives, we experience the Holy Spirit within us.
When you trusted Jesus Christ as your savior.
It was because the Holy Spirit was doing his work in your life, opening your eyes, opening your ears, opening your understanding, to understand what it means for Jesus to die.
A substitution or death, which meant He was your substitute.
God placed upon Jesus, all of your sin and your guilt.
He was your substitute so that you not have to pay the price of eternal separation from God.
And now what did he do?
He sealed every single one of us when you trusted Christ as your savior, the Holy Spirit didn’t just come into your life.
The Bible says in Ephesians twice, he came into your life to seal you as a child of God and listen carefully.
You may be one of those persons who’s been saved. And you think, well, I used to be saved.
No, you either weren’t or you still are because God’s seal cannot be broken by anything.
It’s the resurrected Christ who makes our salvation so certain, so absolutely secure, so unbreakable.
The salvation that he died for is not something we have to work at keeping up sealed.
And the Bible says, well, how long until the day of redemption?
Ultimately, until He comes again, we are sealed as his Children.
And because he lives, I know that that’s true. And you and I can count on it.
We’re not saved for season.
We’re not saved if we’re not saved when, but we are saved by the grace of God, the third person that tried to seal us forever as one of his Children.
So praise God, we can sing because He lives, we can face all kinds of tomorrows.
Then I think of it in this light and that is because He lives.
We can be at peace in the midst of the most difficult times in our life.
The most difficult times. He said my peace watch this. He said my peace I give unto you.
Not as the world gives, give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Need to let it be afraid.
Now, what kind of peace does the world give? Well, I can tell you what some folks try.
Some people when they go going through difficult circumstances, uh they decide to drink and they think if they drink enough, they’ll drink away their sorrows.
No, you can’t or they on some other kind of drug or all kinds of immorality and all kinds of situations and circumstances, doing their best to forget their circumstance, to overcome it by being totally obnoxious in their attitude and their conduct.
No, when the scripture says peace, it’s the peace that he gives that’s able to sustain us.
That is when you go through the most difficult times, he is your anchor that nothing can blow you away from the anchor of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because remember who He is, this is God who came in the flesh to reveal that living God.
And he seated at the Father’s right hand and he said what? He says, my peace, I give unto you.
The world’s got all kind of approaches for peace.
Most of it’s in a bottle or most of it is in some kind of container.
The peace that He gives cannot be contained by anything because it’s the peace of almighty God.
But if you don’t have Him as your savior, you don’t have anything.
Let me ask you this. What assurance do you have about anything in your life?
If you reject the Son of God, the savior, the Lord, the master.
If you reject Him and refuse to accept Him into your life, what assurance do you have?
Don’t fool yourself. You can’t have enough money. You can’t have enough things.
You can’t go enough places, you can’t control enough.
You can’t be big enough in the eyes of people because you see, you don’t have anything in reality until you find Jesus Christ is your savior and you trust your life to him.
He came to give us life and he calls it the abundant life. That’s a life man can’t create.
It’s a life man can’t destroy.
It is the life of Almighty God, the resurrected Christ because he loves us.
And that’s, that’s the reason we can sing because he lives, I can face tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, all the days of our life we can face when we know that Jesus Christ is our savior and our Lord.
Then I think about all of us are gonna face death one of these days.
And because he lives, we can face death courageously boldly and confident that what he said was true, absent from the body present with the Lord.
The only people who can really believe that are those who have received Christ as their savior because he’s the source of your life and we can sing and praise God and shout, do whatever we choose to do to express our gratitude to Almighty God.
But he’s the one who is our life.
And so think about this, the truth is there’s no end to your life.
When you trust Jesus Christ is your savior, the gift of eternal life becomes yours.
It is a life that cannot be ended under any condition because He lives you and I can live forever.
Now, there’s a passage of scripture, I want to turn to that to make all this reality.
And that is Romans chapter 10, the two verses in this passage, I want you to listen to carefully because Paul says in these two verses, there are many others, but I just chose these two listen to this that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
What he’s saying is if you verbally say what is true in your heart, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and I believe that he’s risen from the dead.
Notice he says, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, he said, I believe about Jesus.
No. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
Do you believe that He’s a person of eternity? Do you believe He came to earth?
Died on the cross as a substitute for you, take all of your sins bearing Him himself in order that you might be forgiven and cleanse of your sin.
Do you believe that’s who He is? Do you believe that’s what He did? Not just believing about Him?
But if you confess with your mouth, Jesus Christ is Lord. You have accepted him as your savior.
You believe that He’s the Son of God. You believe He dwells you.
Can you say that that is what He said.
If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
Those two things are absolutely essential. You must be willing to confess him as Lord.
And you must be willing to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
So when people say, oh, I, I, I, I believe about Jesus. That’s not it.
Oh, I don’t doubt maybe he could have risen from the dead. No.
If you confess with your mouth, you make a confession. A commitment.
I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord. He’s the sovereign God of this universe.
He’s the savior and the only savior. He’s seated at the right hand of the Father.
If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord.
And you believe that he Jesus who was crucified and buried also rose from the dead and is seated at the father’s right hand.
Do you believe that if somebody says, well, I don’t know about that, then you’re not saved.
Paul makes it very clear in just that one verse.
Then he says, but with a heart, a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth, he confesses resulting in salvation.
He made it very clear what salvation is all about.
He didn’t say anything about going to church to be saved that we come to celebrate Him.
He didn’t say anything about good works to be saved because he says, for by grace, are you saved?
My undeserved love and favor for by grace? Have you saved through faith that not of yourselves?
That faith is a gift of Godless. Any person should boast.
Our salvation is wrapped up in his awesome love and power.
Not in our good works, not what we do, not what we say we’re gonna do, but just the fact that He is a living resurrected Christ.
Lord. Have you ever done that?
Have you ever come to the place in your life where you acknowledged I’m a sinner, disobeyed.
God rebelled against God. Had my way. Have you ever done that? And then ask him to forgive you?
Not on the basis of looking around to see how good you’ve been, but looking at the cross and recognize his death was not simply the death of a man, it was a substitution, death.
He took your place. I watch this.
Only God could die for the sins of the whole world.
Only He could take upon himself all the sin of all mankind for all of time.
That’s who He is. And so therefore, our salvation depends upon our relationship that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the living God who lives within you.
If you are going to heaven, there’s only one route.
And that’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, confession of Him as your savior and believe that He is the resurrected Lord.
And I would simply ask you if you have never done that one of these days, you’re going to die and then it’s gonna be too late.
And you say, well, I think I’ll be ok. That’s the devil’s lie.
You will not be OK. Only listen to this, the substitution, death of Christ on the cross who rose from the grave.
That is man’s only hope. Listen to this.
If you think salvation comes any other way, what other way is there?
It means that you’re gonna depend on something you do. Thank God.
He made it possible only by something he does not by something we try to do.
Because how much are you gonna do? How long are you gonna do it? No.
Somebody says that’s being narrow minded.
Yes, very narrow minded because he didn’t want us to be confused.
He wanted us to realize there’s the cross and the empty tomb.
Anybody can understand those two things if they’re willing to and willing to surrender your life to Him.
That’s my prayer for you. Stop filling around fooling yourself trying to think that God is going to accept you because you’ve been so good.
If you could see yourself the way God sees you, you wouldn’t like that at all.
He’s willing to cleanse you make you a brand new person. Listen to this.
And he says in his word concerning death, absent from the body, present with the Lord and listen, there is no hope without Jesus and there’s all the hope for all eternity with Him as your savior.
And that’s my prayer for you and father, how grateful we are.
You made your message so simple, trust you trusting in what you did at the cross believing what you left as an empty tomb and they are all some assurance that you are the living God.
We say thank you in Jesus name.
Amen.