Sermon
The King Is Coming
April 14-15, 2001
Pastor Donald Sheley

Lord Jesus, as we now turn to Your Word I pray that Your precious Holy Spirit will be our teacher. For this joyous, happy celebration with beautiful, excited music we've tried to tell You, Lord Jesus, we're thrilled You came out of that tomb, and we want the world to know we believe it with all of our hearts. Now speak to us from Your Word I pray in Christ's name. Amen.

When Peter opened his letter he wrote: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away. The story of the resurrection takes place throughout the Gospels, but Matthew says: Now late on the sabbath, as it begun to dawn towards the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, earthquake had occurred; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. And the angel answered and said to the woman, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He's not here; for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and behold He's going before you into Galilee. There you will see Him. Behold, I have told you." And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they shall see Me." Now while they were on their way, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.

When Paul preached in Corinth 2000 years ago this is what he said; For I have delivered unto you first of all that which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. I am sure that you're aware that all but four of the major world religions are based on mere philosophical propositions. Of the four that are based upon personalities rather than a philosophical system, only Christianity claims an empty tomb for its founder. Confucius' tomb -- occupied. Buddha's tomb -- occupied. Mohammed's tomb -- occupied. Jesus' tomb -- empty. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical event, thus, our Christian faith is not based upon a philosophical proposition, but on an event in history of our world, which has eternal importance for all mankind. One great theologian and historian wrote, Where you stand with regard to the fact of the resurrection is in my eyes no longer Christian theology. To me, Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection. Faith in the resurrection is the very keystone of the arch of Christian faith, and when it's removed almost inevitably crumble into ruin.

Now Paul knew that there were problems over at Corinth, and they were questioning this whole matter of the resurrection because the Gnostics had moved in. And so Paul says now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up--if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those to have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

As I've stated, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has always been the categorical central tenant of the Christian faith. And the reason is because it is a historical fact. It's an event in time that is beyond the point to be disputed. Someone has said that from the first day of its divinely bestowed life the Christian church has unitedly born testimony to its faith in the resurrection of Christ. It is what we call one of the great fundamental doctrines and convictions of which we as Christians hold, and the truth of the resurrection so penetrates the literature of the New Testament that if you lifted out every passage that has reference to the resurrection of Christ, you would have a collection of writing so mutilated that what remained could not be understood. You cannot take away the resurrection without radically altering the character of our Christian faith and destroying its very identity.

The gospel preachers of the apostolic age, the apostles, in their sermons included just four points. First of all, the atoning death of Christ. Secondly, His burial and His resurrection. Third point, His ascension into heaven. And forth, His coming again. And from the very commencement of Christian preaching the resurrection has been the central theme. If the resurrection is not a historical fact, then the power of death remains unbroken, and with it, the effect of sin and the significance of Christ's death remains uncertified, and accordingly, believers are yet in their sins as Paul has said. Precisely where they were before they heard of Jesus. The empty tomb of Christ is the cradle of the Christian church. And the resurrection of Christ is therefore emphatically a test question upon which depends the truth or the falsehood of our Christian faith. It is either the greatest miracle or the greatest delusion ever recorded in history.

Dr. Wilbur Smith, a scholar and teacher, says, no weapon has ever been forged and none will ever be to destroy rational confidence in the historical records of the resurrection. For the resurrection of Christ is the very citadel of the Christian faith. This is the doctrine that turned the world upside-down in the first century and lifted Christianity above every other religion of the world. The resurrection I declare to you today is an event in history and it's without question. You that share the services with me know that I'm a lover of history and one of my favorite historians is a man by the name of Josephus. I've explained to you who he is. For our new friends today, Josephus was a man who lived contemporary to the early days of the church, to Christ. He was a Jewish brilliant scholar, an excellent writer, but he was a secular historian and he was paid. His paycheck came from the Roman government and he was paid to write history that made Rome look favorable in the light of history in its occupation of Palestine. Now Josephus was not sympathetic to Christians, and he was a secular historian. I'm going to read -- in a moment I'm going to read something that he wrote -- some say that Josephus didn't write this. When you go back in the early pages of Christian writing you'll find that many of the early writers, as early as just 50 years after Josephus, made reference to exactly what he said. And it's also obvious when you read some of the great writings concerning the Roman Empire at that time, something must have happened because when Josephus' writing got back to Rome and they learned that the tomb let somebody escape, they sent back new directives as to how to guard tombs in the future. It's interesting.

Now here's what this secular historian, remember he's not prejudiced by any Christian faith, and here's what Josephus wrote 1940 years ago: Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many Jews and also many Greeks. This man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross upon his impeachment by the principal man among us, those who had loved from the first did not forsake him. For he appeared to them alive on the third day the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him, and even know the race of Christians so named from him has not died down. There is a secular historian without any Christian precedence, and a brilliant historian, who said it's true folks. He appeared to his followers on the third day.

Luke was also a historian, as you know, and he wrote the book of Acts as well as his gospel. And Luke tells us that He showed Himself with many infallible proofs when He came out of that grave. So whether the resurrection of Jesus took place or not is a history question, and the historical question at this point is inescapable, and so the question has to be decided on the level of historical argument. What I'm saying is this, if history says something happened and there's sufficient evidence it happened, then it goes down as written history. And thus, what we've celebrated today is not because we had enough faith built up within us that we could accept something that was unprovable, it's not a myth, it's not a philosophical system, it's a fact of history in which we believe. That tomb was empty. Now here's the heart of the matter.

In that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact, what effect has that on our Christian faith? or, what are the theological implications of the resurrection? In other words, when an event takes place, surrounding that event are certain things that correlate with that happening and because this event is true these things are true also. Let me illustrate; I'm old enough to remember back April 1945, and you remember when the news came across the radio the war is over -- World War II has been won. It's an event in history. We know exactly the day World War II ended. And the result of that is the auxiliary facts are that because the war ended we were the victors. We won the war. That's a fact, but it's related to the fact that the guns stopped, the ships stopped sailing, and the boys laid down their guns. So what I'm saying that around every event in history there are auxiliary things that take place that are true because that event makes them true. Got my point? Now here's what I'm asking. Here's what I'm saying. In that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is an event in history, what are the theological implications if that tomb was empty, which it was, then what does that mean to me as a Christian believer?

Well let's find some. If we had time today, which we do not have, but we could go through the writings of the apostle Paul and he would pull out of our basic Christian theology 21 principal doctrines that we believe as Christians, and he hangs them all on the resurrection. He puts it right at the core. He said because the tomb is empty this is also true. Go with me in your Bible to the book of Romans. Would you like to? I didn't find the page, but Romans chapter 1. I'm going to illustrate that if the resurrection is true then the facts about the resurrection are also true. Paul writes: Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. What he saying? Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God because that tomb was empty and His claims to Godhead are absolutely true. You see, the reason why we celebrated Good Friday and the cross is because they accused Jesus of blasphemy. They said You're making Yourself to be God. He claimed His deity and that's why they nailed Him to a cross, but His claim was true because that tomb proved it.

C. S. Lewis, who was a great professor at Cambridge University, was an agnostic for many years. A brilliant mind, some of you have read some of his great books. But he became a believer in Jesus Christ and that brilliant mind, from it came forth many wonderful books. C. S. Lewis wrote these words about Jesus. I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him such as; I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claims to be God. He said, that is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. In fact, he would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he's a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell itself. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up as a fool. You can spit at him or you can kill him, or you can fall down and worship him as Lord. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us, and he did not intend to. He was who he said he was, the Son of God. And that open tomb, that event in time, proves that he is the Son of God. You say, why is that important? Because our Christian faith hangs on the person and the works of Jesus Christ and he is everything he claimed to be. Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God.

Now secondly, we read what Paul said in terms of if Jesus had not come out of that tomb then faith would be futile and we'd still be and our sins. So Paul premises our whole salvation on the fact of that empty tomb. And he is saying that because that tomb was empty everything you and I believe of coming to Christ, acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior, bowing before Him, excepting Him as Master and Lord, and living for Him -- everything about our faith as we live it out is just as secure as the fact that that tomb was empty. There's no other way. The Bible says Jesus Christ is the only way to God, and that open tomb, empty, verifies the fact that the gospel you and I believe is absolutely eternal truth. There's no other way. Paul says that He was raised again for our justification. What's the big word justification pastor? It's a theological word that just simply means just as if we had never sinned. When we come to Jesus Christ and we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior and we kneel before Him, plead His forgiveness, if we confess our sins the Bible says that He is just and will forgive our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

Do you know why I like the moment that follows communion? Because all of us when we stand we stand just as if we had never sinned, totally forgiven. Our sins are taken from us as far as the East is from the West, never, never to be remembered against us ever again. That's fact folks and it's built upon the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now Paul goes on to say also in another passage that because He rose from the grave and ascended into the heavens we now have a great high priest, an intercessor, who's passed into the very presence of the throne room of God. Now we all need that. As we make your journey through his life we need someone to intercede, and Jesus Christ is in heaven today and when we prayed this morning He heard us. And Paul says the very fact that that tomb is empty proves He's there and He intercedes on our behalf. That's a fact.

Now I hurry to conclusion today. There's one other truth. We could not take all 21 so let's just take one more. Paul says that because He rose His resurrection assures us of our eternal resurrection into His glorious presence. Do you remember the occasion when Jesus was talking to Martha about her brother and Lazarus who had just died, and Jesus said to her your brother will rise again? Martha said to Him I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life and he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? And she said to Him, yes Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God who is to come into the world. Paul writes; now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

He said to the Thessalonians: But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others to have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again -- do you see how he attaches that great doctrine again to the empty tomb? If you believe that Jesus died and rose again. He says, even so God will bring with Him those whose sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Paul said because we have put our trust in Christ that came out of that tomb and believe that with all of our heart He truly was the divine Son of God, and that the salvation that He procured for us at Calvary is as absolute as eternity itself. And the fact that when I fail on my way getting there I have someone to plead my cause in the throne room of God, and when the calendar of days is finished and God calls His Christians home, those first in the grave will come first and then we who are alive and remain (snaps fingers) will be caught away. I hope I'm walking through a cemetery when Jesus comes. That's going to be a sight. The graves will open because those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, he says, they'll go up first and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up also.

Now I used to have a lot of problems with that as a little boy. I've got a big imagination, and I was trying to figure out, now Jesus, how are You going to do all that? How are You going to get all of us up there? You know, into heaven? I mean, all of us Christians. How are You going to do that? I got it figured out. He's going to put down platforms on pulleys, you know, then we could all crawl... Now, it just didn't work out that way. It's going to be a beautiful moment, ladies and gentlemen, when God calls it finished (snaps fingers) in the twinkling of an eye every Christian here on Earth will disappear into heaven. That's the hope we have us Christians, and it's just as absolutely a fact as the fact that that tomb is empty. This just maybe our last Easter service here because the next one may be up there. Paul says that tomb is empty, and because that tomb is empty, what we believe us Christians is just as absolute fact as the fact of an empty tomb. You can walk out of the sanctuary today and say I put my trust in Christ. I know that my salvation is absolute. I know that He's there and I know that one of these days He's going to come for me again. That's a fact and that's our faith.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for conquering death. And this day as Christians our religion, our faith, our hope, our trust is not based upon a myth or something we would hope to be true, or some philosophical system; our faith is based on absolute concrete evidence of a historical fact -- Your resurrection. And we walk out of this sanctuary today with our hearts throbbing with joy and a peace that passeth all understanding, knowing that this whole matter of our relationship with You, Almighty God, has been resolved in the person of Jesus Christ, in His death and in His resurrection, and we're genuinely thrilled today in our faith. We love you dear Jesus and we worship You. And everybody said? Amen. God bless you and have a beautiful day.