Easter Sunday

You can't have a resurrection unless you have a death, and the two of them need to be understood together. And so we're going to look at that and unpack it from what I think is the most detailed explanation of the resurrection in the Bible. So if you have your notes, go ahead and take your outline out of your notes. And what we try to do in that is just to provide for you just a place to, in case you don't have a Bible, you can look, read with us, and then maybe take some notes and jot them on the side. And we're going to read this text, and we're going to see that John is trying to say something very important, friends. He's trying to tell us in all this detail that we're not just looking at, as Scott referred to in his video, as a myth or a nice little story. But he's looking at, now listen to what I'm about to say, because you probably haven't heard a pastor say this, the most authenticated event in all of ancient history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This isn't just something we added onto our religion to make it better than somebody else's. Non-Christian historians validate that something happened that seems to prove that this man called Jesus was dead and somehow was no longer in the tomb. He came out. He was raised again. And so let's read this story, and we'll follow along, reading it right from God's Word. And I believe there'll be something for everybody today to encourage you in your journey. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. And so she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, that would be John the writer, the one Jesus loved, and said, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb. And we don't know where they put him. And note right there that they, she uses the term they, so she's wondering if there were grave robbers or something, because she hadn't fully heard Jesus say what he said about coming back from the dead. And these same words, this same encounter, and that's a term we've been using in this series, happened in all the other gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic because they sort of see it the same way. The synoptic gospels have a shorter version, but they have the same principal point, which is, like in Luke's gospel, it says there's an angel there. And the angel says, why are you looking for the living amongst the dead? He's not here. He's risen. And so Mary begins to process all this because it's a huge thing. And it's not just, this is so important for us, not just a victory over physical death, as awesome as that is. And we'll talk a lot about that this morning. It's also representative of the reality that Jesus also conquered what we call spiritual death, or spiritual separation, or eternal separation from God the Father. Jesus walking out of that tomb was a statement that everything that he had said of his prophetic fulfillment, being the Messiah, being the Son of God, Son of Man, all the things that he claimed about himself were validated in the resurrection. That's why it's so important, because he was the one who said, I will show you the way to the Father. I will show you the way to eternal life. Without the resurrection, then it's just a horrible story about a man suffering and dying. The resurrection fills us with hope and assures us that when Jesus said, he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by him, that those words could be counted on for all of us as well. Now, being separated from God, thinking about eternal life, isn't something that's probably all that important to those of you who are in your teenage years. And as glad as I am to have so many young folks with us in this service, and actually all the services, and I want to acknowledge, by the way, let's give a big hand. We have a couple hundred people in the overflow room, I believe, I was told, next door. So let's just acknowledge them. We're glad they're with us. That's one reason why you have to see my mug up there, so they can see. They can be part of this whole thing. But if you're a young person, you don't tend to think about, you know, eternity and what's going to happen at the end of life, because you have all your life in front of you. I understand that. But as you get a little bit older, the inevitability, it sort of looms over all of us, doesn't it, as a reality that we don't know when, we don't know how, but one day, this life, as we know it's going to end. Now, I'm not one to endorse movies, and we don't have an approved list here at Northland, all that kind of thing, but a movie that I found rather entertaining last year was the story that Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman played in called The Bucket List. Now, if you saw that movie, or you heard about it, it's basically a story of two men who find out at about the same time that they apparently both have terminal diseases. They end up in the same hospital room, and they start their treatments together, and over the course of their treatments, they're going back and forth, and, you know, Morgan Freeman pulls out this ragged sheet of paper. He's making this list, and Nicholson looks over, and he said, well, these are just some things that I always wanted to do before I kicked the bucket. Yeah, right. Well, Nicholson's character is a very wealthy man, has lots of resources, and he says, look, why should we just rot away in this hospital room if we're going to die anyhow? Let's do it right. Give me that list, and he starts adding to it, and the two of them sit out of that hospital, and they pull the things out, and he says, we're going out, we're just doing this, and the list has some incredible things. You know, it's climb Mount Everest. It's skydive together. It's, you know, have dinner over the Mediterranean at this gorgeous cafe. It's race, two muscle cars, and a closed race course. They're doing all these crazy things, and at the end of the film, interestingly, Morgan Freeman's values come back, and he returns to his wife and his family, and Jack Nicholson, who'd been really alienated from his daughter, takes steps to be reconciled, and here's what's interesting, and I am not holding up Jack Nicholson as some kind of spiritual leader here, all right? Real clear about that, but here's what he said about when he was interviewed about the movie. I guess it impacted him. He said, I used to live so freely. The mantra for my generation was, be your own man. I always said, hey, you can have whatever rules you want. I'm going to have mine. I'll accept the guilt. I'll pay the check. I'll do the time. I choose my own way. That was my philosophical position well into my 50s. As I've gotten older, I've had to adjust. Isn't that interesting, and he closed the interview by saying, we all want to go on forever, don't we, but we fear the unknown. Everybody goes to that wall, that wall of death, yet nobody knows what's on the other side, and that's why we fear death. Interesting. Perspectives change as we age. Now, I don't share Mr. Nicholson's fear of death, not because I'm anybody special, but because someone showed me how I could have assurance of eternal life, and you can too, because we don't know how long we have. I want to say a word to those of you who are younger and think, hey, I've got 100 years. Maybe you do. I called a really close friend up who I'm going to be spending some time with in a couple of weeks at a reunion, and he's a very successful guy in business, and CEO of a company that you'd recognize if I named it, and we were chatting about all the details of reunion, and he said, oh, by the way, a little health news, and I thought he was going to tell me, you know, that his bunions are bothering him again or something, and he said, well, you know, my wife was diagnosed with severe breast cancer and had a double mastectomy, and she's starting his treatment, and I was, I was stunned because I'd talked to him not that long ago, and I said, Dave, why didn't you call me? I would have come down. I could have supported you through all this and so on, and I at least prayed for you, and he chuckled a little bit. He said, is it too late to start praying now? I said, no, trust me, I will pray every day for you. We just don't know. We just don't know what life has, so why not come to terms with things now if the Lord's nudging you? Because here's the things that we do know. We do know that the same apostle John, who wrote this account that we're reading, had another encounter with Jesus about 50 years later, and we read about it in the book of Revelation. It'll be up on this screen. Here's what happens. It says, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. In other words, this, this disciple whom Jesus loved was so overwhelmed by the resurrected presence of God that he fell as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, do not be afraid. I'm the first and the last. I'm the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and hell. Friends, I want to submit to you, it's wisdom on your part to get to know the one that holds the keys to death and Hades. Only a fool would ignore the presence and words of Jesus. And then in Acts chapter 2, we do know this, that it wasn't just a reversal of, you know, coming back from the dead and putting life back together. It was a whole new dimension of life that was introduced. Acts 2, 32 and 33 say this. It'll be up on the screens for you. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact, this is what Peter says, exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see in here. Now what he's saying is this change that has happened to all these followers, this boldness, this power to see people healed and changed and transformed, that had not been available to people. The Holy Spirit had only been occasionally coming upon certain prophets and people in the Old Testament. We are in a whole new era, friends. Do you realize the amazing possibilities that are yours because the Holy Spirit wants to live inside of you? And that makes everything different, a whole new kingdom. We know that because of the resurrection. We know that Jesus said, I'm the resurrection, the life. He who believes and believes in me will never die. In other words, you'll never have to suffer what we were calling on our outline eternal separation. That's the first two little blanks if you're going to take some notes. You'll never have to suffer eternal separation. And we do know that everyone who accepts him and what he did on the cross will be free from the curse of sin and promised eternal life with the Lord forever. But I must also say that we have to come to terms that if we reject, ignore, or become lukewarm about what Jesus said, we will not come out of our tomb and rise to eternal life. We will be separated from God. And friends, I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. This is the message paraphrase of John 3 36, where Jesus says this, that is why whoever accepts and trusts the son gets in on everything life complete and forever. And that's also why the person who avoids and distrust the son is in the dark and doesn't see life. All the experiences of God is darkness and an angry darkness at that. It's our choice, but let's be clear that they're very, very powerful consequences depending on your choice. Now I could stop right now and you would have heard the most important part of the Easter message and story. And you could wrestle with that. And, and a lot of you are praying that I would stop right now, but I'm not going to, because I want to share just a few more things because this is such great news. You can know this. This isn't something I encounter people all the time in their fifties, sixties and seventies who say, well, you know, I'm just not sure I I've the Lance. They'll say, I think I've been a, you know, on the whole, I've been a better person. I've done more good things than bad things. And they sort of rate themselves on the curve. And I want you to know something when it comes to your relationship with God, He does not grade on the curve. It's pass fail. And it only happens by accepting, by affirming, by believing in what Jesus did. And you've got to know this. You've got to embrace this for yourself. You know, I'm concerned because I believe for some of us, we do know it up here. You've heard this story probably dozens, hundreds, maybe times of times, but we get into such a busy life. And I know what that's like. I know what it's like to be, you know, dealing with 70 or 80 or more emails a day and phone calls and texts and all the rest of everything. I mean, and we get so busy that we, we, we just take it for granted and we find ourselves and here's the word drifting away from God. And I'm speaking to someone today and Easter for you is to be a wake-up call. You know, I think it was about two weeks ago. It was a little bit of a rainy day and I was meeting a friend here at the front parking lot. I was going to ride with him down to downtown Pittsburgh to a trade show to look at a few things. That we were checking out for the atrium space and, and I hurried out of my car and got into his car and got down there and we were walking around the trade show floor about an hour, hour and 15 minutes later, I get this, my phone buzzes in my, and I get this text message that said, Pastor Jay, will you be returning to your car soon or should we shut it off? You know, I have, I have one of those, like a lot of you do cars with a little push button start thing. And I was in such a hurry. I mean, I could have lost something pretty valuable to me, you know, because you can get in and just drive off. You can't lock it. It won't let you do that, but somebody could get in and just drive off. Madison explaining that one to somebody, you know, insurance businesses. But the point is this, far more important, you can be in such a hurry that you lose something very valuable to you. And that is the closeness of the intimacy of the relationship that God wants to have with you. Please don't let that happen. This Easter, recommit yourself, if you're already a believer, to giving God the time that He deserves in your life. And let's read on. So Peter and the other disciples started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. You get any idea that John thinks a lot of himself? I mean, he's the one that Jesus loved and now he outruns Peter and he's like bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in. So that's his response. He's contemplating what happened. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went in. He ran right on into the tomb and saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. I just want to make a little comment. I read that verse a lot of times. How many of you made, don't put your hand up, how many of you made your bed this morning when you got up? I mean, no, I said don't put your hand up, Carl. Put your hand back down. It's okay. I'm glad though. You're well trained. I want to appreciate that. But interestingly, Middle Eastern tradition has it this way, that when the head of the household was finished eating, they would just toss their napkin on their plate and walk out. When they stepped out and planned to return, they folded their napkin. Interesting. I wonder if Jesus was taking the time to send a message to us. I am returning. He folded that face cloth. I think it's just a beautiful, powerful picture. And so they're in there looking in this tomb. And the other disciple reached the tomb, also went in, and he saw and believed. And if you don't get anything else, underline those four words. He saw and believed. John believed that Jesus was who he said he was. He believed what he heard him say. He put his faith in him as the resurrected Lord. So, out of the tomb of eternal separation, you can know life. Second, I want to talk about another kind of tomb. On Friday, Good Friday evening in our service, we talked about the tombs that we create for ourselves. Tombs sometimes that are our own doing, and sometimes they're tombs that just happen because of circumstance. And I just put them under the broad category, and this is the second blank, of brokenheartedness. There's a lot of us today who are here, and you're just praying for some kind of miracle. Something, because you're just about to lose hope. And for many of us, it has to do with relationships that are so important. I could not escape this word, but there are a lot of you who are here that, despite the fact that there are well over 1,500 people here today, you feel very alone. You're lonely, and you're dreading having to leave here and maybe go off on your own, and go to your place, and be by yourself. And there's something about loneliness that just is really hard to shake, and it can become a tomb. And I want to say just a specific word. I just couldn't escape this when I was preparing. If you're lonely today, the resurrection says to you two things. Jesus wants you to know that He stands at the door, and He knocks every day. And He says, can I come in and have fellowship with you? That's His revelation, chapter 3, verse 20 in your Bibles, if you want to just note it. I knock. I stand at the door, and I knock, and I want to come in. And you don't ever need to feel alone, even if your circumstances have you alone. And the second thing is this. God has provided this wonderful body of people, this huge group of people that meet consistently. One of the great things about this church is that we are committed to meeting in small groups. And I look around and see some folks in my small group, and I have a special affection for them, because we share our hearts, and we share our ups and downs. And you can be part of that. And you know what? That goes a long way to softening that loneliness. So become part of that. Maybe your response to this message to Easter is to say, I want to be part of a small group. I want to be part of what God is doing. One of my professors in seminary wrote a little booklet called, My Heart, Christ's Home. Think of it that way. You are never alone, because your heart is where the Lord is living. And there are other kind of tombs out there. There are tombs of shame and guilt. People who have done things, and I mean, their behaviors have caused them to feel unworthy. And I want you to know, the Lord says, you come. No matter how you are, you come, and I'll receive you. Some of you are struggling with depression. Don't have the strength, really. You don't even want to get up. It was hard for you to get up today. The Lord has an answer for you. Some of you with a critical spirit. You've already filled out your communicator with the five things you don't like about what's going on here. Let me just encourage you to put that communicator in your Bible, okay? Or send it to scotts at North Way.org. I'll take care of that. You see, not everything is going to be the way you like it. But it's so healthy for us, isn't it? To stretch just a little bit and learn to accept some things that are different. Some of us are dealing with some very, very significant, and this is important, marital strife. I would say that is probably the number one issue that we hear about in our counseling center. And I'm not just talking about the, you know, the everyday kind of battles that we all have. Carol's not in this service, so I can tell you a few things. You know, we will be celebrating our 39th anniversary this summer, and it's interesting how through all those years, it's, she's not clapping. So she's, I bet she's kind of watching online to see what I'm doing right now. But over the years, we have some differences. It's just the way we were brought up. Like, I believe that, you know, God intended for bedroom furniture to be resting places for clothes when you're in a hurry. Carol thinks, what's the big deal about walking to the closet and putting the thing back on the rack or, you know, throwing it into the tub and whatever? You know, and so we get on that, and I said, I don't want to rob you of the joy of just picking up my stuff. I mean, don't you really like that? No. We have some moments there, trust me. I'm learning, I'm learning how to do that. All of us have those kind of things, disagreements here and there. It happens to everybody. But I want to say a word to those of you who are in deep, listen now, and I know what it means to be in deep disagreement, wondering if your marriage is going to last the rest of the week or the rest of the month. And I want to say to those of you, and I know I'm speaking to some people right now, you're here and maybe your spouse isn't even here with you. And that's a metaphor of just how bad it is. I want you to know something. The resurrection says to me that if Jesus can come back from the dead, He can raise a dead relationship and make it whole. And I want to encourage you, humble yourself before the Lord and say, Lord, whatever I need to do to change, let me change. I was so moved at a Good Friday service. You know, people come with so many different burdens, and I was trying to help facilitate getting these things nailed to the cross. Because what we did, we wrote out a besetting sin or a difficulty that we were facing, and people were lined up at all these different crosses. And I was just helping people get, you know, make their way up. And one young woman came with a, she had an eight and a half by eleven piece of paper that she'd folded, and she was quite tearful. And she just said, Pastor Jay, I don't want to hold everything. I said, but I, in my time with the Lord this morning, I filled out all this about me and my relationship with my husband, and I didn't know what to do with it. And she said, it so affected me when Pastor Kent said, come and take these things and nail them to the cross and let Jesus carry the burden of them. And that's what you need to do is just say, Lord, whatever it takes, I'm willing to do it. I want to do it. So finally, turn your outline over. Here's what happens. You come out of the tomb of broken heartedness, but you also need to come out of the tomb of fear and doubt. Let's read the story. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, now this is the same day, okay, this is like Sunday evening, if you will, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. Now wouldn't you think that the disciples would be so fired up because, hey, our leader is alive, and who's going to take him on, right? You can't kill the guy. But instead, no, no, they're hiding, you know, behind the door and locking it up for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. How many noticed it didn't say he walked through the door? I don't understand these kinds of things. He just appeared. The Bible says that our, listen, our resurrected bodies will not be limited by material things. It's going to be kind of cool, isn't it? Kind of scary too when I think about it, but really kind of awesome to think that a whole new dimension of life. And here's what he said. He said, peace be with you. And after he said this, he showed them his hands in his side, and the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. And again Jesus said, peace be with you. Loved ones, many of us need to hear that message. Peace be with you. We live in a time when the overriding message is a message of fear. And I'm not, I'm not talking about, you know, the global fear. I'm actually not real concerned about the North Koreans firing missiles up. I think they're more likely to blow themselves up than us, okay? I'm, you know, not making fun of it, but it's just not a big, and I'm not worried about, you know, the pirates on the other side of Africa or whatever. I'll tell you the kind of fear that I hear about that concerns me. People that say to me, I fear that I'm going to lose my job this week. I fear that maybe I won't have enough money to feed my family and take care of the essentials of my kids. I hear young, very bright young men and women, college and grad school.