The Church of Eleven22 - Easter 2021

Episode Date: April 4, 2021

Are you looking for life in the temporary things of this world or have your eyes been opened to true life, only found in the resurrected Jesus Christ?

Amen and amen and amen. How we do it, church? Doing all right? Welcome to Resurrection Sunday. Welcome to all of our campuses. All of our campuses are in overflow too. So especially here at San Pablo, if you see some people wandering around

like the Israelites in the wilderness, invite them into your row so we can all get a seat. I hope you're excited to be here. If you're not a regular with us, I really want to welcome you, and I hesitate to call you a guest because, like, I don't think you're a guest. Like, when we have guests to our house,

We love to open our door to you. We'd love to feed you. But we have this expectation that you're going to leave. So I don't want to consider you a guest. I want to consider you like future family. You just don't know it yet. We're here every week, so I hope you'll be back. And you came to a really good service because I have some good news for you.

I have some really, really, really good news for you. And maybe you can help me out with this. Finish this sentence. If the tomb is empty. That's pretty good. Try it over here. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible, and I'm here to tell you that the tomb is empty.

And because the tomb is empty, death is defeated, sin is paid for. Jesus is alive. And because he walked out of the tomb, we can walk too. The chains can be broken, that marriages can be saved, that the blind can see, the lame can walk, the sick can be healed, and the dead can be resurrected. Amen.

And speaking of it, the tomb is saved. empty anything as possible. I have some more good news that one of my best friends on the planet is sitting right over here, Pastor Ben Williams in the front row, buddy. Love you, man. Grab your Bibles. Luke chapter 24.

This could be one of the greatest three or four hours of your life. So those people laughing are, or, there's the people that aren't here all the time. What we're going to do is we are going to talk about at an event. Have you ever had a moment in your life, and you knew that moment was gonna change all the rest of the moments in your life?

Have you ever had like an event happen to you? And you knew that event was going to change all the rest of your life. I remember when I'm standing in an altar with my wife Gretchen, 21 years ago saying, I do till death do his part. And I knew that moment changed everything. Change my dating life, changed my responsibilities, changed everything. I knew the moment I became a dad and I held my little babies. And something erupted in me that I didn't even know was in there.

And I knew this changes everything. Sometimes it doesn't just happen individually. It happens for a nation. When 9-11 happened in our country, we knew this changes everything. When I was a teenager at this little rinky-dink Southern Baptist camp in Benisville, South Carolina, and for the first time, my eyes were open and my heart caught on fire, and I asked Jesus to be my Savior. I knew that moment changed everything.

All week long, I have been praying that you would have one of those kind of moments. today. Because the crazy thing is, is that Christianity is built on an event that our faith is not even built on faith, that our faith is rooted in a historical event that changed the world forever. And while that is true, what may be even more important is that same event can change your world forever. Luke chapter 24, we'll pick it up in verse one. It says this, but on the first day of the week, that Sunday, that's why we worship on Sundays, because it's Resurrection Sunday every single Sunday. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking spices they had prepared. Now, the they here, we're going to find out in just a second, is a few women.

Now, the reason that some women went to the tomb with the spices is because, I'm guessing, that they knew that there were some men that prepared Jesus' body for burial. And they probably looked at it and said, well, if Peter and James and John were in charge of the cleanup, then we're going to have to clean up to clean up. Husbands, you know what I'm talking about? You know, like when you say, hey, baby, I cleaned the kitchen. She's like, oh, and that sweet. And then she cleans the kitchen, you know what I'm talking about? And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus while they were perplexed about this. Pay attention to this. Do you know what the women thought they were going to find when they went to

the tomb? They thought they were going to find dead Jesus. They were perplexed. They didn't know what was going on. I got some really good news for some of you. If you're a little sweet, low on the Bible study uptake, which many of us are, then do you know you can make a really good disciple? Because at this point, what the women have missed, and the men are going to follow, is they have missed the point of the whole thing. It says they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus while they were perplexed about this. Behold, two men stood with him in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living

among the dead? Why are you looking for life in a place that doesn't provide life? Why are you seeking the living among the dead? Which, by the way, this is a very pertinent question for us today. Church, let me ask you, why are you looking for the living among the dead? Why do you continuously try to seek out meaning and satisfaction from things that will not provide meaning and satisfaction. And the crazy thing is, is that we tend to go back to the same things over and over and over and over. And a part of it is bred into us as Americans. That we are the land of life, praise God. And liberty, praise God.

And the pursuit of happiness, Lord help us. So what we often do, man, is we think, you know what, I'm going to find life and money and stuff. Now, nobody would admit that. It's just the pursuit of our lives every week. And if you're new to 1122, we lovingly call that the cul-de-sac of stupidity. Not because we think money and stuff is stupid, but I think you are stupid. Me too, man. Me too. I mean, I see one commercial and I think, I didn't even know I needed that until I saw it. Now I have to have it. And I get so focused on it, and I can begin to believe whether it's cars or countertops, whether it's a new vehicle or some new eyelashes or rent somebody else's

hair or whatever it's going to be, get you a new suit, and you think this stuff is going to satisfy the soul. And then when it doesn't, here's the cul-de-sac part, here's the stupid part, you look at some old stuff that didn't satisfy you and say, forget that stuff. I know what I need. I need some new stuff. And we do it over and over and over again. And it will never satisfy. And the reality is, man, no matter how successful you are, no matter how much stuff you get, you realize, you realize what's going to happen to all your stuff, all your stuff, and all of your success. One day, you're going to die.

I don't know if you realize this, but the death rate in America still hovers right around 100%. And your children are going to pilfer through your junk. And that's what, I know what you think it's treasure, but it's junk. And your kids are going to hold up your pants and be like, look at mom's mom's mom. jeans. My mom got such big pants. Now, by the way, I was preaching this one time in Scotland, and in pants in Scotland means panties. And I didn't know that. And they'd laugh it so hard. And in my ego, I'm like, I'm crushing me some Scotland, but it didn't go that way, okay? So, but your kids, that's true, your kids are going to hold up your stuff and they're going to

keep whatever they want and everything else they don't want. They're going to sell it. We're going to give it to us in Hope's closet. And we're going to make my kids. money off of your deadness. That's what we're going to do. And those golf clubs you just had to have. I mean, you just had to have those golf clubs. Listen to this, man. Some dude, you don't even know is going to be playing with your clubs and be better than you. That's just what's going to happen. And I know, but people will be like, well, we're just keeping up with the Joneses. Listen, the Joneses are going to hell. Don't keep up with him. Now, listen, if your last name is Jones, would you please surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ right now?

Some people look to stuff, some people look to status. If you find yourself saying, as soon as I get to, as soon as I graduate, as soon as I get the degree, as soon as I get the promotion, the appointment, once I get there, then I'll be fully and finally satisfied. The problem is you wake up there and you realize you're still just you. Riding on this merry-go-round of normality and you realize it's just not that merry and you spend all of your vocational life climbing the corporate ladder, or get to the top of that thinking you're going to find success. And then you look around and you realize it's leaned against the wrong wall. And some people don't look to stuff and status. They look to self-improvement.

You just begin to pour yourself into a hobby, as if your dumb hobby is going to do something for your soul. And all our hobbies are dumb, man. They are. If you catch that next wave, if you finally shoot, scratch golf, listen, you're never going to be that good of a golfer. I've played with you. You lie anyway.

We're like, nope, that doesn't count. That doesn't count. That doesn't count. Got him? Okay. I'm telling you, man. And so we begin to pour ourselves into things that don't really matter as if it's going to do something for our soul. And the crazy thing is one day you will realize that fulfillment isn't out there somewhere.

Fulfillment is we ask Jesus to come in here and do a work in our soul. Or some people will pour themselves into religion, which is really sad. Because you know, religion is really just self-improvement. with a choir robe and a list of do's and don'ts, and you'll try hard to be a better version of you where some people will pour themselves into fitness and think, man, if I could just lose a few pounds, then, then I'll be fully and finally satisfied.

Well, let's check the calendar real quick. It's April. How'd that New Year's resolution work out for you, huh? Right, because the reality is, it's even if, even if you lowered your handicapped by three and you caught the biggest waves and you made bank and you walked in here with just abs and cash falling out of your pocket. You still lay your head on the pillow at night and you think,

is this it? And the answer is no, this is not it. And then what some people do is, I know, I know, once I can just, once I can get my relationships right, we just came out of 10 weeks studying relationships. Once I can meet the one, one, then I will be fully and finally satisfied. Listen, I'm here to tell you, Jerry Maguire is a liar. No one can complete you. No human can complete you. Have you met a human? ask some merry people how complete they are by a human. Pretty lacking. And then some people turn to feelings to just the next fun event,

and they just want to feed the appetite and feed the appetite and feed the appetite and just pack your schedule full of fun events to just try to numb the reality that there must be more to this life than what this world has to offer. You see, the crazy thing about all those things, There's nothing in and of themselves necessarily wrong with any of those things until you began to treat those things, the temporary things of this earth, as if they are the end. But they are created things from the creator given to us as a means to an end in order that we would worship and glorify him. The angels say, why do you look for the living among the dead? Verse 6, he is not here but has risen.

I love this. Remember how he told you? You would think that somebody would have jotted this part of the sermon down. That Jesus told you specifically that he was going to die on a cross and be resurrected on the third day. And somehow these women missed the whole point. Look, in Luke chapter 9, twice he tells them. In Luke 921 and 22, it says saying the son of man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Nobody jotted that down. In Luke 943, 44, he says, Jesus says, let these words sink into your ears. You ever say that to your kids? You're like, hey, look at my face when I'm talking to you. That's what Jesus is doing. The son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, but they did not understand.

Luke 18, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the son of man by the prophets will be accomplished, for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day, he will rise. But they understood none of these things.

It makes me feel much better as a preacher, by the way. And the women are like, where is he? And the angels say, he's not here. Remember how he told you? I think the angels are the ones that are perplexed. I think the angels are like, how did you miss that? The resurrection is the whole point of the whole thing. I think the angels thought on resurrection Sunday, the disciples would be standing.

standing outside of the tomb going five, four, three, here he comes, two, one, move that bus. But that's not what happened. They're all hidden in a little room afraid. And then the women go to take care of dead Jesus, but he is not there. And he says, remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. And they remembered his words. Oh, yeah.

I remember that. And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. Now, these verses bothered me like crazy. And here's why. This is the thing that keeps me up at night. As the lead pastor of this thing, thing being this movement that is 1122, with our tens of thousands of people that will be at all of our campuses today and the hundreds of thousands of people that will watch online throughout the week,

Let me tell you what makes me really, really, really nervous is that you could be around Jesus and you could hear all the sermons. You could even witness miracles and then somehow miss Jesus. Like you could show up to church and you could be into it and you know where to park and you know how to check your kids in and you know if you leave during the last song

you can get them before everybody else does. And you know all the tricks, man. You even know during the song when to raise your hand which, by the way, the suit really hinders my worship, man. I'm not into it that much but whatever, okay? And you know what part of the sermon to move? Like when I say the thing, and you go, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And you get out your Twitter, and you're like, oh, Jobie's dropping fire.

Praise-Sand, praise, dance. Fire, fire, fire, fire, okay? You know the thing. So good. I'm going to go, so good. Hey, pausing for your laughter does not take away from the sermon time. I just want you to know that, okay? So, and here's what happens, man, and then miss Jesus.

Because right, from here, man, from right here, everybody looks like they're going to heaven to me. You look great. But please, please, please. Please don't miss Jesus. He is the point. He is the point. The point of this place is not me and my communication style.

It's not the nice new buildings. It's not the expanding campuses in St. John and all over the place. It's not how good the music is. It's not how cool our kids' ministry is. It's not the fact that you can meet other people and all of that. The point is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Please, whatever you do, don't miss Jesus. Verse 10, but now it was Mary Magdalene, by the way.

And Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. By the way, this is a part of why I believe the Bible is just recording history here. It's not making up a story. Because if you were going to make up this new story, make up this religion, surely you would not have these women be the ones that were the first eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ. First of all, Mary Magdalene may have been a prostitute, and she was at least demon-possessed. So she's got a little shady past. And then not only that, in the first century, women did not have the same legal status as much. do like they do today, they could not testify in a court of law.

So why in the world would you have women be the first eyewitnesses at the empty tomb? I can tell you why. Because these women were the first eyewitnesses at the empty tomb. And I want you to see that just because Mary Magdalene may have a shady past, she was not discarded by our Savior, but he had a purpose and a place for her. Why?

Because therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and she was in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. Verse 12, but Peter rose, and he ran to the tomb. He wants to see it for himself. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened.

What we're going to see over and over and over and over in this text is what they talk about is not what they feel and not what they believe. They talk about what had happened. because what happened is that Jesus came out of the tomb. Now, one of the things that people have to explain is that something happened. If you watch the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, those kinds of things today, you will see all kinds of explanations for what happened, because what people cannot deny, no historians ever say that Jesus of Nazareth didn't walk around in the Middle East 2,000 years ago.

Everybody agrees that that happened. but what they can't understand is how do you explain the church today? Because something happened. I'm going to give you a whole bunch of reasons right now that you can believe the historical event that Jesus was crucified, dead, buried, and then on the third day was resurrected from the grave. Number one is that he appeared to over 500 people

for six weeks in Jerusalem after his crucifixion. That he appeared in Jerusalem, the place where he was crucified, not to just like one or two people, you know, but to over 500 people in Jerusalem. Secondly, all Rome had to do. Rome wanted to squish this little Christianity uprising thing happening. All the empire of Rome had to do if Jesus was dead

is go to the tomb and bring out dead Jesus, hang dead Jesus in the square, and then I can sell the suit because it's worthless. But they couldn't, and they know where the tomb is because they used Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. There would have been a deed on that property. They know the address. We know that they know the address

because they put 48 Roman soldiers to guard it. Next. The Bible was written. The Gospels were recorded while the eyewitnesses were still alive. There's not enough time to elapse for a legend or a myth to be made up. In fact, the Apostle Paul in Corinthians says,

if you don't believe me, go ask the eyewitnesses because many of them are still alive. And so one of the ways that it's explained is some people will say, well, the disciples stole his body. Okay. Let's think about this for a second. What were the disciples doing on the day Jesus was crucified? They weren't in the back room practicing their ninja skills.

That's not where they were doing. They were hiding because they were afraid. They were a bunch of fishermen. And so you mean to tell me that in the middle of the night, the disciples, with like a fillet knife, come sneaking in to the tomb. they take the 1.5 ton stone in front of the tomb, roll it away, they come into the tomb, and when they're going to steal dead Jesus, they take the time to unwrap his 125 pounds worth of burial clothes and the garment that was over his face, fold that up nicely,

and thankfully they hit it at nap time and all 48 soldiers were asleep, and then they tiptoe away with dead Jesus. Well, here's the crazy thing about it. How do you explain then the disciples who were afraid to even admit that that they were afraid to even admit that they were followers of Jesus before he was crucified, and then after the resurrection, they had a boldness where they would stand in front of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they say, you do whatever you think you've got to do, but as for me, I can't help but talk about what I have seen and heard, not what I believe in, but what I have seen and

heard. And what they saw is they saw a resurrected Christ. Not only that, every single one of the disciples were martyred for their faith. Now, people will die for all kind of crazy beliefs, but they didn't die for what they said they believe in. They died for what they said they saw and heard. And you mean to tell me, listen, you can't even keep a secret amongst your disciple group. Let's be honest. You mean to tell me one of the disciples knows

that dead Jesus has in his jetty cooler in his garage, but they're going to go and die for it? I don't think so. Peter was crucified upside down. They tried to bowl John to death. He wouldn't cook, so they put him on the Isle of Patmos. James, they threw off a building, broke his legs, and bashed his head in.

And every single one of them said, no, no, no, no, no, we saw him alive. Next, people have to come up with some kind of theories to explain what happened. And one of them is called the swoon theory. Are you familiar with the swoon theory? This thing is ridiculous, okay? I mean, it's ridiculous. The swoon theory is that Jesus, he did walk around Nazareth. He did teach.

He did go to the cross. But on the cross, when he was beaten and bloodied and bruised and stabbed in the heart, He didn't die. He just slipped into a coma. And then they took comatose Jesus, and they wrapped him up in burial cloth because he thought he was dead, but he wasn't really dead. And they put him in the tomb, and they rolled the stone in front of him. And with no medical care in this damp tomb for three days, with no medical care, after three

days, he woke up feeling like a million bucks, like he'd slept in a holiday NXpress. Takes off the burial clothes. Somehow he rolls the 1.5 ton stone away. again tiptoes beyond all of the Roman guards and then jogs seven miles to Emmaus. If you believe that, you have more faith than I do. Because I'm going to just be honest, man. I woke up this morning and thought, I'm thinking, God, what did I do to my back?

And Gretchen said, you slept. And at 47 years old, in the middle of the night, if I don't nail the move from here to here, I've got to have an Advil smoothie to make it to work. You understand what I'm saying? And yet you think Jesus was beaten, battered, bruised, and somehow just woke up feeling great. The sixth thing is this.

How do you explain Saul's conversion to Paul? Saul was a person that was anti-Christian. He was trying to stomp Christianity out, and then something happened, and he becomes the greatest proponent of the gospel. I'll tell you what happened. He saw the resurrected Christ. How do you explain the church today?

That today, over two billion people will gather and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and then maybe the most convincing one to me is this. Jesus's brothers put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Let me put it in context. How many of you have a brother? If you have a brother, raise your hand. Okay, raise them high.

Testify here, people. Okay. What would your brother have to do to convince you that he was the son of God? I got a brother. He's a decent enough guy. He's a deacon at our church, actually. But if my brother came to me and said, behold, I'm the son of God. I'm like, you're the son of something, brother.

but it ain't the Lord, I grew up with you, all right? So the reason this happened, the reason it is recorded is because it actually happened. We are talking about a historical event, and if the tomb is empty, then you've got to deal with that. What are you going to do about that? Now, sometimes the Bible writers

are kind of like a Quentin Tarantino movie. It just shifts gears with no explanation, and now we're in a different place than a different scene next event. Now, one of the questions that I find interesting here is, what do you think resurrected Jesus is going to do. Like, he comes out of the grave, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and where is he going to show up? I would think maybe he would show up in Jerusalem at the temple and do something

kind of cool there, or maybe he'd go up to Pilots' house and knock on the door and be like, I'm back. I don't know. What's he going to do? Well, where we find Jesus, the resurrected Christ is he's on the road to Amas. Amas is like this little kind of town that nobody knows about. There's not much there. It's like, I don't know, Palacca, whatever it is. So, and if you're from Placca, you know what I'm talking about. Let's be honest. Okay, so, and there's two guys that are walking away from where the gospel is happening.

They're walking away from the Holy City. They're walking away from the empty tomb. And here's what happens. That very day, two of them, two disciples, were going to a village named Amayas, about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. They're not talking about what they believed. They're not talking about what they felt.

They're talking about what had happened. And while they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went to them. Listen, here's what this means, I think, for you and me. No matter who you are, what you've done, where you think you were heading, Jesus is pursuing you. And no matter how far you run and how fast you think you can go,

it's like a horror movie where the bad guy just kind of keeps up with them, right? And Jesus is walking you down. I believe that the fact that you are hearing this message right now, now is empirical evidence that Jesus is in hot pursuit of you. And then Jesus just rolls up on these two. And it says, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. So Jesus walks up and they don't even realize that it's him. Now, scholars can't really agree on why they can't recognize him. Some people say maybe it's because they were overwhelmed with grief. Maybe. I don't know. Some people say it could be because just three days ago he was crucified and Isaiah said that he was

beaten beyond recognition, and we know that he still has scars, so maybe he was unrecognizable that way. I tend to believe that if you can come out of the grave and you want to pull the Jedi mantra, this is not the Lord you're looking for. This is not the Lord we're looking for. I think that's what he did, okay? Because the reality is that none of our eyes can be open until Jesus decides to open our eyes. And again, one of the things I'm praying for you today is today. you would see Jesus for who he really is. And Jesus says to them, what is this conversation that you were holding with each other as you walk?

And they stood still, looking sad. And then one of them named Cleopis answered him, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? Again, this is the third time I'm going to mention it. The foundation of Christianity is an event. It's not a philosophy. It's not an ideology.

It's not a set of rules. It's not behavior modification. that the gospel means good news, and news means that it actually happened. And that's what they are talking about, the events that happened. And so he said to them, what things? And they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. You see, they thought that Jesus was coming to start a new religion. And every other major world religion has started that way. Some man shows up and says, hey, I've got a message on how you get close to God. And what they were hoping is that Jesus was going to come in, kick out the Romans, and Israel could take Jerusalem over again. And they were putting their hopes in the temporary things. And by the way, this is how every other world religion starts. Somebody comes in, they have a teaching, then they die, and then their disciples get together,

and they have like to keep the dream alive rally. All right, here's what we're going to do. Here's our message, and you go there and here are our tactics. That's not how Christianity started. When our leader died, they didn't have to keep the dream alive rally. They had to keep me alive rally. And they all hid together, locked up in an upper room because they were afraid. In fact, if you go to John chapter 20, you'll see the rednecks went fishing again.

Nobody had a plan to, like, start a new religion because Jesus did not come to start a new religion. Jesus came that we could have a relationship with the heavenly fire. through Him. And the good news of the gospel is not based on a bunch of propositions. It's based on the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so they think he's dead, so they're done. And they're heading in the opposite direction. They go on to say yes, and beside all this, it is now the third day since these things have

happened. Verse 22, moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning. and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they have seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said,

but him they did not see. And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Now here's the thing here. I can't, it's hard to read the tone in the text. This is why, by the way, you should never text anything since it ever serious because it's hard to read tone, all right?

So I don't know if Jesus is like, oh, foolish ones, like kind of tender. And by the way, it'd be like when my grandma would say, bless your heart. By the way, I know we've got a lot of people from the northeast moving to Florida. Because it's still America. But that's a different thing. So let me just warn you, if you bump into somebody here in the South and you're not from here, and they say, bless your heart. It sounds like a blessing. And they have just, old lady, Southern Baptist cussed you.

That's what they did, okay? That just means, oh, you're too dumb to talk to you. So I don't know if it's like that. It's like, oh, foolish ones. I don't know if it's that. Or I don't know if he's like, what's a fool? I don't know if it's kind of like a Mr. T thing. Or it may be indignation, like, oh, foolish ones.

And I think it's that, but it may be my own, like, personality being read into the text. I'm not sure. But he says, oh, foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter his glory? Was it not? He's like, fellas, how did you mean? And that's the whole point. The whole point was the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah.

Was it not necessary that the Christ, and by the way, if you knew the Bible study, Christ is not Jesus' his last name, it's his title. He's the anointed one. He is the Messiah, the one that was going to come and pay the price for our sin. And the point of the cross is that Jesus paid for our sin, and the point of the empty tomb is that just like he has been resurrected from the Greek. grave, he is the first born from among the dead, then if you are in him, then we too will be resurrected to newness of life in him. And Jesus is saying, how did you miss the point? Was it not necessary

for Christ to die? Sometimes I'll have people that are kind of new to the whole Bible study thing, and they'll say, all right, help me understand. So why did Jesus have to die? I mean, why can't God just forgive us? I forgive people all the time, but you know what, don't worry about it. Well, first of all, you're not God. And for God to just overlook sin would mean that he is unjust. And God will never act in a way that is outside of his character. And a part of the character and nature of God is that God is a just judge. And not only is he just, he's merciful and he's gracious. And the way that we've determined the penalty for a mistake or a sin is not only what you do, but who you do it against.

We know this in our own legal system. That today, if you get mad on the way to the parking lot and you kick the car, that's probably not good. If you get home and you kick your dog, that's worse. If you kick your wife, you need to go to jail. If you kick a cat, it's not even a sin, I'm pretty sure. You kick the president? Like, you're going to be on the news, man.

You're getting tased. They're putting you away for a long time. Every single time we sin, we not only sin against one another, but we commit treason against the most high God. And when we sin against an everlasting God, it requires an everlasting or eternal punishment. And when God sent his son, Jesus Christ, Jesus lives the perfect life and then dies on the cross

not only for us, but instead of us. That God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. And the Bible says the wages of sin is death. And so when Jesus goes to the grave, he puts death to death. He pays the full wages for sin. And when that bill was paid in full,

the Greek word for that is to tell us die. Then the grave couldn't hold him anymore. The stone is rolled away. And with that sin debt paid, he walks out alive. And because he's alive, we can be alive too. That's what he's saying. It was necessary.

And then I love this part. Verse 27, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Again, folks, they still don't know who they're talking to. And Jesus says, basically, hey, if you got your Bibles, and he starts walking him through this Bible study. And he takes the very scriptures.

And he says, hey, listen, the point of the whole book was me. Don't you remember, didn't you go to Sunday school? Maybe it doesn't tell us exactly what text he went to, but maybe he started in creation. And maybe he said, hey, did you remember? Then in Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, when the Bible says, let us make mankind in our image, I'm one of the uses that you were created in my image. Don't you remember that the Heavenly Father spoke everything into existence?

But when he created image bearers, he gathered together. I gathered together the Adam, that's the Hebrew word that means dirt. We get the name Adam from. And he put together essentially like a shell of a man, but he was not yet a human being. And then the Bible says that God brings. breathe the ruach of life into the very first man. That word ruach can be translated breath or spirit or wind. And God really, really close into the very first human being and he opens his eyes and he is face to face with his heavenly father. And that's imprinted on his soul. And it's what every

single one of us were created for. That's why this world can't give us what we really want in need because we were created to be in need of our heavenly father. And then maybe Jesus says, and we knew that it was not good for man to be alone, so we gave Adam a suitable helpmate, and they were husband and wife, and there wasn't a bunch of rules. There was only one don't. There was a whole bunch of dues. Why?

Because God is about relationship, not just a bunch of rules. And then the enemy came along and tricked them. Did God really say, and they believed the enemy instead of the one true God, and essentially looked at God and said, forget you, God, we got this. And sin entered the world. And when sin entered the world, everything was fractured. At the macro level, like weather systems don't always do right, down to the micro level, sometimes very cells in your body don't do what they are supposed to do.

But before God kicked them out of the garden, he did a couple of things. One, is he cursed everything, man, woman, and the very creation. And he said to Eve, I'm going to put enmity between your offspring and this enemy, and there will come a day where this enemy will bruise his heel, but he will crush his head. And then he made a covering for their sin that blood was shed, a lamb was slain, or an animal was slain, for the covering of sin. And maybe Jesus was saying, I'm the serpent crusher. I'm the one whose blood was shed for the covering of sin. And maybe, I don't know, maybe he took him to Abraham and said, don't you remember Father Abraham who put his faith in God and it was counted to him as righteousness?

And haven't you heard that Abraham was a friend of God? And Jesus says, that was about me. It wasn't just about a dad taking his son up to the top of a mountain to be tested to see if he would sacrifice his son or not. And instead, God gave him a substitute. I am the substitute. And maybe he took him to Moses and said, don't you remember Moses when Moses went up on Mount Sinai and gave the Ten Commandments? And they said, yeah, it's really hard for us to keep. And it goes, I know, I know.

That's why we gave them to you so that you would realize you're not just a mistake or in need of a lifecoats, that you're a sinner in need of a Savior. And maybe he talked about that time when Moses went before Pharaoh and said, Let my people go. And Pharaoh said, ain't no way. And so God sent 10 plagues. And the 10th plague was the plague of the firstborn.

And Moses went to the people and said, go get a perfect spotless lamb and shed the blood of a lamb and put it on the doorpost of the house because an angel of death is going to pass over. And if you've got the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of your house, then your firstborn will be spared. And Jesus, maybe he said,

hey, the point was not the Passover lamb. I am the Passover lamb. and maybe he took them to Leviticus 16, which I'm sure you read this morning in preparation for Easter, on the Day of Atonement, that one time of year the nation of Israel would gather together and confess their sins, and the high priest would receive the confessed sins of the Israelites and transfer their sin to the head of a goat, take it to the edge of the city, and cast the goat out as far as the east is from the west so they could literally watch their sin go away. It's called the scapegoat. And then that same high priest would take another lamb, perfect.

spotless lamb, he'd consecrate itself. He'd shed the blood of the lamb. He would go into the Holy of Holy, which represented the very presence of God, and he would sprinkle the blood of the lamb over the ark of the covenant that held the broken laws of God so that when God looked down on his people, he did not see their sin,

but he saw the shed blood of a lamb. And they did it year, after year, after year. And maybe Jesus said, that wasn't about some kind of temple ritual. That was all about me. And maybe he took him to the prophets. Maybe he took him to Psalm 22, where it starts out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And they said, isn't that what you said on the cross? For sure.

And it's a play by play, blow by blow, count by count of exactly what happened at the crucifixion, written a thousand years before Jesus was ever crucified. And the way Psalm 22 ends is this, it shall be done. And the last thing Jesus said on the cross is, it is finished or it has been done. Maybe he took him to Isaiah 53, written 600 years before he was cross. crucified. And he said, listen, when Isaiah said that he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, and by his stripes we will be healed, Isaiah was talking about me. And maybe he took him to Malachi four, the last verse in the Old Testament. He said, don't you

remember the prophet Malachi who said there will come one in the spirit of Elijah? And he will turn the hearts of their fathers to their children, the children to their fathers, and he will prepare the way of the Lord, because the son of righteousness has healing in his wings. And don't you remember A few years ago, my weird cousin, John, John the baptizer, big beard, country guy, yelled at people a lot. And he had one sermon, repent and be baptized, repent and be baptized, and repent and be baptized. And don't you remember that one day? He pointed at me and said, behold, there he is. The Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world.

Not another Lamb of God that's here to cover over the sin of the Jewish people for one year. But the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world. and maybe he said, and don't you remember how I taught and how I did signs and wonders, but ultimately that was not the point of my coming. Ultimately, I came to pay for your sin at the cross that when I said it is finished, that counted for you. And what is finished is that the wages of your sin

has been paid for. The sacrificial system is over. The curtain that separated the people of God from the presence of God has been torn from the top to the bottom because God tore it, not from the bottom to the top, like we have to tear it by our own good works. so that you could be face to face with your heavenly father again.

And then, they still don't get it. They still don't get it, which makes me feel so much better as a preacher. I'm just here to tell you. What they're talking about next is where they want to eat lunch, which is what some of you are doing right now. I know it is. I'm up here preaching my face off about Jesus being the fulfillment of all the prophecy, and you're like, I heard brunch is happening, okay?

You can still be a good disciple. Hang in here. So they drew near to the village to which they were going, and he acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with him.

I just needed to know, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is the position you find yourself in right now. That Jesus is here, and he is on the go. And if you ignore him, he's going to keep going. but you can also invite him in to your life. There is no middle ground. And to not make a decision is to make a decision to reject him.

And then look at what happens. He goes in with him, verse 30. And when he was at the table with him, he took the bread and he blessed and he broke it and he gave it to them. Now why is Jesus eating bread? Because he's not a ghost. It's a bodily, physical, actual.

historical resurrection. Verse 31, and their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Their eyes were open and they recognized him. Listen, they recognized him with the breaking of the bread. Maybe this is because the reason that we break the bread

and take the cup is to remember the gospel. But I want you to know that Jesus did not come to start a religion. He came to start a relationship with you. And it was at that table. It was in that intimate moment of a relationship that's when their eyes were open.

Listen, I'm not anti-doctrine, I'm not anti-theology. You can't rightly love God with wrong thoughts about God, okay? But it was not in the information that their eyes were open. It was in a divine revelation that their eyes were open. And their eyes were open, and they recognized him. Let me just ask you, have your eyes been open? This verse reminds me of an invitation of Jesus in Revelation 320. He says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

and if anyone would hear my voice and invite me in, I would come in and eat with him and he with me. God does not want to come here just to tell you all the wrong things that you're doing. He wants to invite you into a relationship with him. And their eyes are open. And then look at what he does. And he vanished from their sight.

They're like, it's him and he gone. And they said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road while he opened the scripture? Church, does your heart burn? I don't mean like the, you know, just physically. I'm talking about, I can remember, listen, when I met Jesus at camp, I didn't have any new information.

I had been to church. The only time we ever went to church was Easter, so be careful. It'll get on you. You'll be doing what I do, okay? And I'm sitting at camp, and I'd heard you died on the cross, but I don't know how to explain it. Something was going down, going on in here that had never happened before. my heart was burning because Jesus was drawing me unto himself. How about you?

Are your eyes open? Does not your heart burn within you? And they rose that same hour and they returned to Jerusalem and they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together saying, The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. And they told what had happened on the road. Not what they felt like, not what they believed, but they told what had happened. They had encountered the resurrected Christ.

and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. And as they were talking about these things, because you realize the guys were like, are you sure, and like, no, seriously, man, you're not going to believe it. We were on our way to Emmaus, and then this dude just rolls up, and he's like, what's happening? We'd be like, how do you not know what's happening? We didn't even know it was him, and he was doing this Bible study,

and I thought, man, I need a tum, I got some heartburn, and then we sat down, and he broke the bread, and I saw the scars, and I thought, it's him, and then he just disappeared. And there he is, because he just shows back up, look. And as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. That when Jesus walks in, peace comes with him.

But they were startled and frightened and thought they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at the descriptive words of who Jesus meets with face to face. They're startled, they're frightened, they're troubled, and they have doubts. I know that some of you are startled

because you've got a phone call this week from your work, and you're not sure if you're going to have a job next week and you're startled. And I know that some of you are afraid because you've got that diagnosis from the doctor and fear is gripping you. And I know that some of you are troubled

because your marriage is in trouble or your relationship with your kid is in trouble. There's a broken relationship, and you're troubled. It's hard to even hear anything else going on in the world because of the trouble that you find yourself in. And some of you, as hard as you try to press the doubts down, you just can't make them go away, and you're trying to reconcile the things I'm talking about right now

with the whispers in your mind. And what Jesus does is he walks in among the startled, the frightened, the troubled, and the doubtful, and he says, peace, peace. And then he says, see, see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy, they were marveling.

He said to them, have you anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish. And he took it, and he ate before them. And then he said, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Look at 45. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Has God opened your mind?

And then he said, we'll close it this. Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Jesus did not kick down the door and say, what are y'all doing in here? I didn't raise a bunch of scaredy cats. Get out there and tell the world like I told you and cast out demons. No, no, no, no, that's not what he does.

He walks into a group of people that are troubled, that are afraid, that are confused, that are doubtful, and he brings peace. And he shares the gospel with them once again. And then he says, you are witnesses of these things. Here's what this means. that they in that moment have experienced Jesus. Not just heard sermons, not just witness miracles, but they individually experienced Jesus. Let me ask you, church,

have you ever experienced Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Because new information can't do it for you. You have to have a divine revelation. That moment for me, I've alluded to it already a couple of times before, But that moment for me, I'm a teenager in Benytsville, South Carolina, which would be like Emmaus, like nobody's ever heard of it. It's seven miles from nothing. And I'm at this camp, and my camp counselors reenact the crucifixion of Christ on the last night

of camp. And listen, man, this is like the mid-80s from a bunch of college kids, all from southern schools. They had a thicker accent than I do. You understand? man nobody nobody was in any danger of winning an oscar in this performance what should i do with this fellow named jesus you know is that kind of thing and though i'm sitting in veniceville on this little cross tie hearing a story that i'd heard over and over and over and over man i grew up in the south

if you would ask me do you believe in god i'm of course i do man i'm from the south i believe in god and jesus and the easter bunny and santa claus and nascar and scec football check and i watch jesus go for Pilate. And somehow, I know I was in Veniceville, and it was 1980 something, but somehow in that moment, I was in Jerusalem in 33 AD. And I heard Pilots say, what should I do with this man named Jesus? Most important question you'll ever ask yourself, by the way. What are you going to do with this man named Jesus? And the crowd screamed, crucified. And I watched him be flogged, and they took him to the cross, and they nailed him to the cross, and they lifted him up. And I heard him say words like, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and my heart began to burn.

And I heard him offer salvation to a man next to him on the cross who deserved to be there. And all that man did, all that thief did, would say, Jesus, will you remember me this day when you go before your father in heaven? And with incredible grace, he said, truly, truly, I tell you, you will be with me today in paradise. And I heard him say, it is finished. and I don't know how to explain it, I just can't deny it. For whatever reason, I saw it for the first time. For whatever reason, my mind was open to it and my heart was on fire.

And Coach Lee, my football coach, stood up in front of us and said, if there's somebody here, the language he would use is this, if there's somebody here that's ready to ask Jesus in their heart, because God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. And it was a Southern Baptist deal, man. So the way we had to do it, you couldn't get saved back there in your seat, you had to come down front.

That's how we did it. And I think we were under contract saying just as I am. So in about the 13th stand-as-up, just as I am, I got my feet wrapped around that little seat, and I'm like, there ain't no way I'm getting up from here. And I don't know how to explain it. I just can't deny it. I found myself standing face-to-face with Coach Lee saying,

I'm ready to surrender to Christ. In fact, he came up after about the 13th stanza and said, I believe there's one more. And I was that one more he was talking about. And I experienced Jesus. My eyes were open, my mind was open, and my heart was on fire. How about you? How about you?

Maybe you come every Easter, and you've heard about the resurrection of Jesus 50 times. But for whatever reason, today is the day that you would experience him for the very first time. I want to give you the same opportunity that Coach Lee gave me. To admit it, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. To believe that somehow when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me. Even if I can't explain it, I surely can't deny it, because I hear him knocking and I want to invite him in. And if you want to do that, then you confess him as your Lord and Savior. Would you bow your head and would you close your eyes?

And if you would say, that's me, for the very first time, I am ready to be. admit it, I am a sinner. And I believe that somehow when Christ died on the cross, that that counted for me. And today, for the very first time, I am ready to confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior that no matter where you are, would you lift your hand in the air? Would you say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You lifted high in the air and say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to Christ. And it is not a hand in the air that saves you. It is what Christ did on the cross for you that saves you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us.

And Jesus, we thank you that you came on a rescue mission for us, to seek and save us. Not to just tell us how to be better and do better, but to rescue us from sin and to rescue us from ourselves and to rescue us to you. And God, we thank you that if the tomb is empty, anything is possible, including the salvation of men and women and students this very day. God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your cross, and we thank you for that empty tomb.

Because if Jesus walked out of the grave, then we can walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and all God's people said. Amen. Church, would you please stand? As we respond, we believe that the gospel demands a response. and so we invite you to pray, even if it's awkward and you've got to like bump into 100 people on your way out, it's worth it because the Bible says, cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you, that God is a good dad, no matter what you're going through, no matter what you need. The Bible says you have not because you ask not, so I dare you to come forward and kneel either at the carpet or on these kneelers and pray to the God that loves you. And we bring, we bring our tithes and our offerings. If you're a regular here, hopefully you know how to do this.

that, most of us do it online, that we bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best, because he first loved us by giving us his best in Jesus Christ. And we sing. And we're going to join our voices and sing to the one that is worth it. That's what worship is. Because he is the only one that turns seas in the highways, and he's the only one that turns bones in the armies, and he's the only one that turns graves into gardens. Because there's nothing better than him. So let us sing, let us bring, let us pray. Let's respond.