Easter

The empty Tomb!

If you were here Wednesday, we talked about:

We are homemade.

How one problem messes everything up (mayo, pickles, onions, etc…)

How God has offered us the solution.

This morning, I don’t want to complicate matters, but I want us to reflect on the importance of the cross and on the resurrection of Christ.

This morning we sang:

“There’s no broken body you can’t raise. No soul you can’t save. All things are possible. The darkest night, you can light it up.”

The Darkness in this world.

What is darkness?

How would you define it?

What are some dark things in this world?

What are some examples of darkness?

World Hunger - Is that dark? yes.

Homelessness? - yeah.

abortion? - yeah

murder? - yeah.

What about these though…

5. Your friend cheats, but he’s never caught. He doesn’t hurt anyone.

It’s wrong because it’s dishonest. His work is not his own. It doesn’t matter if someone sees you or catches you…

Integrity is who you are when no one is watching.

Dishonesty is dishonesty.

That’s one of the 10 commandments.

However Colossians also speaks to this in Colossians 3:23-24

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Cheating isn’t wrong when you get caught. It was wrong long before.

6. Two friends of yours of the same gender like each other and start dating. It’s love. For them not to love each other would mean they would both FEEL heartbroken.

They feel they are right. They are living their truth. Is this wrong?

This question is a dangerous one because the root of it is this.

“My friend feels what they are doing is right; therefore, it is.”

How do I maintain a relationship with my friends but also not endorse what they are doing?

How do I stand for the truth when I know the truth will hurt their feelings?

7. Some of my friends like and follow some real bad stuff on instagram and tik tok. I know they are watching porn and they want me to do the same.

Yeah that’s darkness...

These last 3 examples are not extreme. I know these are real questions you guys struggle with every day.

I know you see friends in school, followers on social media, and elsewhere that live lifestyles contrary to you.

They live the opposite of what church is telling you to live.

And right now there is a war in your mind.

WHO IS RIGHT? WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

I want to read you one verse real quick.

After listing a whole host of sins including lust, sexual sins, and dishonesty, Paul writes in Romans 1:32

Romans 1:32 ESV

Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

May we as Christians do 2 things.

Know the truth of God’s word. Know His righteous decrees.

Never give approval to people who practice sin.

Can I offer you some freedom this morning.

There is no “My truth”

You don’t have a truth. I don’t have a truth.

There is God and what He says is right and wrong, and then there is the opposite of that.

Some of you may hear that and say, well that’s pretty closed minded Ben.

We’ve got to be more open minded than that…

But wait a second.

That thought process also assumes you know something more than God does.

Do you?

I don’t.

It’s freeing for me to know God has laid everything out for me.

Here’s sin. Here’s how I freed you from sin.

Are you going to believe me?

Are you going to trust me and follow me?

How freeing it is to know in this modern day chaos we live in that I don’t have to struggle to figure out what’s true and what’s not all I have to do is look to the God of the universe who said HERE!

I’ve given it to you!

But here’s how easy we mess this up.

*FLASHLIGHT Illustration.

I have two flashlights up here.

Both of them look good on the outside.

But on the inside of this one (hold up broken one) there is a tiny part that is broken.

I mean it’s tiny, you can hardly even see it with your eye.

But you know what. this flashlight won’t even turn on.

It’s broken.

Our lives are like this guys.

Anybody can look good on the outside and claim to shine the light of their truth.

But because of sin, our light is broken if it’s not shining the light of Christ.

So what does all of that have to do with Easter?

Like we sang this morning, The darkest night, “You can light it up...”

2. Only Jesus can light up the darkness.

Philippians 3:18-20 says

Philippians 3:18–20 (NLT)

For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

You see, I think some of us hear about sin, and we think God is angrily looking at us.

Judging us. Judging our friends. So rather than go to Him, we run and live in sin.

But what did the beginning of vs. 18 say?

“With tears in my eyes…”

Being against Christ does not mean Jesus is read faced, ready to attack you.

He died on the cross for you guys…

He loves you. He should be red faced.

He should hate us.

But with tears in his eyes, He went to the cross and gave it all for you.

Do you belong to Him?

*Illustration*

My youngest son, Declan was born a month ago this Friday.

In the hospital, they give me (the dad) and Allison (the mom) a bracelet with a number on it.

I believe the number was 49185

Dex also got a bracelet put on his wrist immediately when he was born with this number.

That number says that He belongs to us!

Want to know why that matters?

About an hour after he was born, he went the the NICU.

Allison couldn’t, she had a C-section, she had to be in recovery.

Also, being COVID, we could only have one visitor the whole time in the hospital.

So here I am 2 hours into my sons life, alone with Allison.

Do I leave her alone and go be with Dex, or do I leave Dex alone and go be with Allison?

What would you do?

I called Allison’s mom and thankfully she came up to the hospital and was able to sit with Allison for about hours.

During that time I went and I sat in the NICU.

I watched Dex, I held his hand, I sang to him and prayed over him.

Why?

Because He’s my son.

I don’t want his first hours outside of the womb on this earth to be laying alone in a bassinet in a NICU with tubes hanging off of Him.

I want him to know, even though he will never really understand or remember, I still want him to see His father.

To open His eyes and see who he belongs too.

He’s not a number on a bracelet to be re-united with His mom and dad later.

He is our son now.

Y’all… if you belong to Christ this morning.

There is an empty grave this Easter.

Jesus is with you and He is reminding you who you belong too.

Even when you sin, It’s his love that keeps Him right beside you.

Even when you are tempted at school, Jesus is there.

Even when you don’t know what to say to your cheating friend, your lying friend, your gay friend, your friend who looks at porn, Jesus is there with you.

Even when you feel like our in an impossible situation. Jesus is there!

The question is, Do you know that? Do you believe that?

When we feel confronted with darkness daily, it’s only when we are reminded of the words of Jesus that the light of Christ lights up the darkness around us and shows us the truth.

Are you trusting Him daily?

3. It’s a worthless life with Christ.

Lastly this morning let’s read from 1 Cor. 15.

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Joe read this verse in His sermon last week and it rings true today.

If Christ hasn’t been raised, then all this is worthless.

Christian’s should be the most pitied people on earth!

Jesus took the 39 whips on the stump.

He had his beard ripped out of his face

He had a crown of thorns hammered onto his head.

He had his flesh and muscle torn out of his back.

He had nails driven into both of his wrists and into his ankles.

Jesus had God His Father turn his back on Him because he took every sin of every human on Him.

And Jesus did it all so that we could be with Him.

Does that mean anything to you?

If so, Come alive today guys.

Wake up!

Jesus is here.

We’ve got big problems man.

We’ve got friends that don’t know up from down, right from wrong.

But WE have Jesus!

Let’s remind our friends who Jesus is by first:

Letting Jesus live through us.

Reminding our friends of the truth.

You don’t need to be a jerk and point out all your friends sin.

But when you do see it, we can remind them, “Hey man, I do stuff that’s alot worse than you, but let me tell you about the one who saved me!”

We can be non-threatening and share Christ.

But we can’t be a Christian and never share Christ at all.

We can’t claim faith in Jesus, but then act like he never rose from the grave!

If Christ didn’t raise our faith is worthless, but the good news is HE DID!

He’s alive!

Make a choice every day to do something that matters in eternity because

Jesus is alive

You’re alive and will live in eternity with Jesus

Not because of what you’ve done, but because of Him and only HIm!

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

I got nothing in this life without Jesus!

What about you?

Christ is Alive today!

How is your life communicating to others around you that He is alive!

Our life is always communicating what we believe.

Let’s be sure we are telling others about Jesus and not about our sin.

Live for Jesus today!