SPEAKER_00: Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: It's a great Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Every Sunday's a great Sunday, but especially Easter.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look at somebody next to you right now and just look at somebody and say, he is alive.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you turned away from somebody right there.
SPEAKER_00: I assume that was intentional.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look at the person you turned away from and say, I'm glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Now you guys can figure out all the uh all the psychology behind that afterwards why you went one direction or another.
SPEAKER_00: But uh guys, Easter Sunday is uh very seriously, it is the most significant day in the history of the world.
SPEAKER_00: In a world that's filled with statements of exaggeration, that one is not an exaggeration.
SPEAKER_00: And boy, oh boy, am I so glad that you are here today, that we can celebrate Jesus' death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin and his resurrection from the dead so that death can be defeated?
SPEAKER_00: We can celebrate that love has won and Christ is risen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_00: Easter Sunday responds to a core question that we hear being asked all over the world.
SPEAKER_00: The question is something like this How do we push off the decay of death that we feel all around us?
SPEAKER_00: And in some ways, even not just the decay of death, but the ultimate reality of death.
SPEAKER_00: Just this past week, Pastor Rob sent me uh a text with this link to a YouTube, uh, not YouTube, Netflix documentary of this uh series called uh Don't Die.
SPEAKER_00: Has anybody seen that on YouTube, the documentary Don't Die?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a couple, not a lot.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.
SPEAKER_00: It's the guy's literally takes on this whole case of trying to make himself immortal.
SPEAKER_00: Like that'd be pretty slick if you could actually do that.
SPEAKER_00: Um I think most of us are fairly resigned to the fact, as evidence, most of you haven't watched it, or maybe Netflix just isn't as cool as it used to be.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but whatever the case, maybe that feels a little extreme for you.
SPEAKER_00: I know I can't make myself totally immortal, but one of the things I like to do uh is to study the culture that we live in and kind of see what are the messages that are embedded in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: And I think as you look closely at a lot of the messaging around our culture and the music and the movies and the famous people, those sorts of things, you see this idea of pushing off the decay of death is all around.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So Taylor Swift comments on this.
SPEAKER_00: You think of her song, what does she say?
SPEAKER_00: She says, Everything will be alright as long as we keep dancing like we're 22.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: As long as the decay of death, the effects of death don't come on, so we can dance like we're 22, young, strong, energetic, beautiful, then everything will be all right if we could just find a way to push it off.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe others of you uh go back a generation past, it's almost 40 years since Tracy Chapman released her epic song, Fast Car.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you remember Luke Combs covering that a couple years ago or their famous performance together at the Grammys.
SPEAKER_00: The song's all about the pain that's embedded in their world.
SPEAKER_00: You might say the effects of sin, the decay of death that makes life so difficult.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a line in the car that says, You got a fast car, but is it fast enough that we can fly away?
SPEAKER_00: Can it get us out of here?
SPEAKER_00: Can we escape the decay of death?
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you one more example outside of the musical realm.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Steve Jobs made the iPhone come to life for us, or at least people he hired did.
SPEAKER_00: And um, near the end of his life, he was interviewed in the uh the famous biography by Walter Isaacson, and uh he's kind of reflecting on life, and here's what Steve Jobs said.
SPEAKER_00: Catch this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, uh getting past even the decay of death, but the ultimate reality of death, listen, this is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I just can't accept that the body just turns off one day and it's all over, that you're gone forever.
SPEAKER_00: There's got to be more to it than that.
SPEAKER_00: We can't just be an illusion of consciousness arising from a fortuitous cosmic accident.
SPEAKER_00: He says, it seems like there has to be more to it.
SPEAKER_00: And he would go on later to say that this is actually why he didn't want the iPhone to ever have an off button.
SPEAKER_00: Because he thought that we would live forever in some way, shape, or form, and that the phone should tell us something about ourselves that you can't just turn off.
SPEAKER_00: Now, isn't that fascinating?
SPEAKER_00: That the phone is actually shaped by his view of humanity.
SPEAKER_00: But whatever the case, we're circling around this core question that humans ask all the time: Does death have the final word?
SPEAKER_00: And is the decay of death leading to the inevitable victory of death?
SPEAKER_00: And what I would say this morning is whether you're here as a Christian or whether you're not, you should want the message of Easter to be true.
SPEAKER_00: Because if it is true, if Easter is real, then death isn't the end.
SPEAKER_00: And the effects of death, the decay of death, need not be feared because there's something better on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're in Luke chapter 24.
SPEAKER_00: The story unfolds, there are three scenes that you heard Phil read about.
SPEAKER_00: There's this the scene with the women, and then there's Jesus on the road to Emmaus with these couple disciples, and then there's Jesus in the room with the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not gonna go verse by verse through every single one of those.
SPEAKER_00: It's a 53-verse chapter, it would take us a little while.
SPEAKER_00: But what we'll see is there are three themes that emerge, and all three themes actually show up in all three scenes.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think the repeated themes are helping us to see.
SPEAKER_00: Here is the major thrust of this resurrection Sunday, that Jesus is alive, and here's what we're supposed to see.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're pretty simple.
SPEAKER_00: They're this Easter is one historical, Easter is theological, and third, Easter is transformational.
SPEAKER_00: It's historical, it's theological, it's transformational.
SPEAKER_00: I'll try and show you all three of those in the passage.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you keep Luke 24 open because we'll go back to that uh fairly frequently throughout.
SPEAKER_00: Let's start with the first one.
SPEAKER_00: Easter is historical.
SPEAKER_00: Very simply, what I mean by that is that Jesus' resurrection from the dead is not some kind of a mere spirit resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: It's not merely that he feels alive in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's not merely a message that there's this idea of hope, but it is real history.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus actually rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's really important for you to understand is that the very nuclear core of Christianity, the very center of Christianity is not rules nor is it regulations, but it's a resurrected king in his name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He must be raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, he said that if Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, if he stayed in the tomb, then Christianity is a complete joke.
SPEAKER_00: That coming to church every Sunday is just a different hobby.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I would say very honestly to you as a pastor, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then I think going to church is one of the lamest hobbies you could ever get.
SPEAKER_00: Like, go buy a boat, get season tickets to the cults, do something else if he's still in the grave, like every other famous teacher and leader of world religions.
SPEAKER_00: But if he's really alive, then it changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe he is really alive.
SPEAKER_00: As you read Luke 24, one of the things you see, this argument for a historical reality that Jesus really lived, really died, really rose again, is the level of detail that's included.
SPEAKER_00: Like it says that the ladies went to the tomb not just that day, not just in the morning, not even at dawn, but at early dawn, at the first clip of the sun.
SPEAKER_00: It says that they went bringing spices.
SPEAKER_00: It says later on that Jesus was hungry, and not just that the disciples gave him food, not just that they gave him fish, they gave him broiled fish.
SPEAKER_00: It screams of eyewitness account.
SPEAKER_00: It's like you telling somebody, we went to Chick-fil-A, and my brother got the deluxe sandwich without the pickles.
SPEAKER_00: Like you only give that level of detail if you were actually there, actually observing it.
SPEAKER_00: And that argues for the historical truth of what's being recorded.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just details that were given, though.
SPEAKER_00: There are specific details that say, no, this is very much a true story.
SPEAKER_00: One of the most significant ones is that the very first eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus are a group of women.
SPEAKER_00: Now look back at Luke 24 with me and read this in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: This is really, really significant that it was these ladies.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 24, 10.
SPEAKER_00: Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why it's significant that the women were the first eyewitnesses.
SPEAKER_00: In that culture, the testimony of a woman was not credible at all.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, most of the time, women were not allowed to testify in a court of law because it would just be immediately thrown out.
SPEAKER_00: In the event they were allowed to testify, if you had two women say this happened and one man said this happened and it was different, they would always take what the one man said over what the two women said.
SPEAKER_00: So the only reason you would write that the women were the first eyewitnesses that they told the story is if it really happened.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you're making up a tale and you want it to be credible, they would never place it on the lips of women.
SPEAKER_00: So it really happened.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles hear the message, and their response is, oh, no way, that's an idol tale.
SPEAKER_00: Like, crazy women, you can't trust them.
SPEAKER_00: Fellas, can I give you a warning this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, let the listener understand, right?
SPEAKER_00: One of the most common objections you hear about this resurrection account is that, well, everybody back in that day was gullible.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they would believe anything.
SPEAKER_00: They saw miracles, they claimed miracles, you can't prove it.
SPEAKER_00: The hilarious thing to me about that objection that they said they would believe anything, is literally the people who wanted to believe it the most when they first heard the story, they didn't believe it.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's an idle tale.
SPEAKER_00: That stuff doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: What's wrong with you?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's this is real history being recorded for us.
SPEAKER_00: One of the other things that this argues for, just by the way, of the truth of the Bible, it's not just evidence that it really happened.
SPEAKER_00: You also have evidence here that what was written down in the Bible has not been changed through the years.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: If you're trying to change a story to make it look more realistic, what's the first thing you would cut out that the disciples didn't believe?
SPEAKER_00: Like you want Jesus to look like this powerful, amazing guy that you should follow.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't exactly help the case when the first disciples are like, yeah, I think he's still dead.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're gonna change the story, this is the thing you'd change.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that this is still in the story tells you, yeah, they haven't been changing this thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like how it was written down is how it comes to us today.
SPEAKER_00: One of the other theories that kind of gets at saying Jesus didn't really rise from the dead is called the swoon theory.
SPEAKER_00: It means Jesus didn't actually die.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I like to call this the Princess Bride theory, because Jesus wasn't totally dead, just mostly dead.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you think about this one for a second, if uh if you get past the fact that the Romans were master executioners.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they were super good at killing people and making it painful.
SPEAKER_00: And if they didn't kill the person, that Roman soldier, his life would be demanded of him.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they had a pretty robust system in place.
SPEAKER_00: But if you can get past that for a second, you're still gonna have a pretty big problem saying Jesus was only mostly dead.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 13, and I want to show you how I think that can be seen.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 24, 13.
SPEAKER_00: That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here you have another historical detail.
SPEAKER_00: This town that's seven miles from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Why does it matter that Emmaus was seven miles from Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's take the almost dead theory, the mostly dead theory, and run with it for a second.
SPEAKER_00: On Good Friday, Jesus is beaten to a pulp within an inch of his life.
SPEAKER_00: Internal organs are exposed.
SPEAKER_00: He's suffering from massive blood loss.
SPEAKER_00: And we're supposed to believe that after three days in there with no food, no water, no medicine, he didn't even have essential oils, he just pops up like he's been sleeping at a JW Marriott for three days, goes over to this 3,000-pound stone, rolls the thing up, comes out to the guards, jukes him like he's Jonathan Taylor, and then jumps into a seven-mile jog with these disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And they look at him and they do not say, dude, you're gonna freaking die.
SPEAKER_00: We got to get you to a doctor.
SPEAKER_00: They just start a regular conversation talking about what's been happening in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They open up the Jerusalem Times.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus kind of plays along with them.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Oh, really?
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: And the one disciple, Cleopus, he looks at Jesus like, dude, have you been living under a rock?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, well, actually.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like that this whole like he was almost dead thing, it just doesn't make any sense at all when you read the story.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to tell you this is real history, and there's good evidence in what's written here to believe that it really took place as it was said.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in graduate school, uh the resurrection of Jesus was one of the major emphasis, uh emphases, I should say, of my research program.
SPEAKER_00: And we were working towards that, and the way I thought saw it was this.
SPEAKER_00: I was already a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I was persuaded that Jesus was king, but I wanted to go back and look at it again.
SPEAKER_00: And if I was gonna give my life to telling other people that they should give their life to following Jesus, then I should be really sure of this stuff as well, right?
SPEAKER_00: And one of my professors did this amazing study, and I've never forgotten it.
SPEAKER_00: He used all his grad assistants, and they surveyed every single scholar who had studied the historical Jesus over the last 50 years.
SPEAKER_00: Every scholar in English, in German, and in French who ever published an article about it.
SPEAKER_00: Every scholar, regardless of their belief system, so they surveyed every Buddhist scholar, Hindu scholar, atheist scholar, Jewish scholar, Christian scholar, all of them.
SPEAKER_00: Several thousand-page document putting together their beliefs.
SPEAKER_00: And of every single one of those, more than 95% of scholars agreed on three basic facts that Jesus really lived, and he really died by crucifixion, and after his death, his disciples believed that they saw him, and many people believe that they saw him.
SPEAKER_00: Like the facts are not disputed, regardless of your worldview convictions.
SPEAKER_00: And these appearances after he rose, it was in a one-on-one context, it was small group context, it was large group context, sometimes more than 500 people, it was in different locations all over the place.
SPEAKER_00: It was to men, it was to women, it was to disciples, and it was also to skeptics, people who didn't believe, who upon seeing him turned their life around and started following him.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's a staggering amount of evidence that's given here.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to understand something.
SPEAKER_00: I am not saying that you can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that someone can rise from the dead in a scientific way.
SPEAKER_00: I realize that's that's probably not within the scientific method.
SPEAKER_00: I do realize that faith is required to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, it's part of it.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm trying to tell you here is that there is stunning evidence in real history for the life of Jesus and the death of Jesus, and that he was again alive.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just something you can dismiss, like, oh yeah, that's what my grandma believed 50 years ago when people would still believe that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're unsure of Christianity, this is the fundamental piece that sets it apart from every other world religion.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, guys.
SPEAKER_00: You can go to the place where Muhammad was buried.
SPEAKER_00: You can get pretty close to it and see where it was.
SPEAKER_00: Confucius, you can go up on the mountain where his ashes were supposedly spread.
SPEAKER_00: You can go to the temple where the Buddha has one of his teeth embalmed.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna cost you$7 to get in.
SPEAKER_00: But you can go and you can be there, and they're still in the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is fundamentally different.
SPEAKER_00: He's alive.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just a good teacher, he's not just the leader of a world religion.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here and you say, Justin, that's fine about these religions you're talking about, but I'm a person of science and rationality.
SPEAKER_00: Can I invite you to come back to the evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus with an open mind and give it a fair shake, give it consideration.
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to study it with you if that's something you're interested in.
SPEAKER_00: But if it's true, it changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite quotes every Easter comes from a Yale historian.
SPEAKER_00: It's a Croatian man, I believe.
SPEAKER_00: His name was Yaroslav Pelakon.
SPEAKER_00: And the Yale historian said this: He said, If Christ is raised, then nothing else matters.
SPEAKER_00: Because he demands everything from you.
SPEAKER_00: And Christ was raised, and therefore it is right to give everything to him.
SPEAKER_00: Easter is historical.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing we're going to see in this passage is that Easter is theological.
SPEAKER_00: It's theological.
SPEAKER_00: And don't be scared off if you're newer with us with a big word like that.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot to see here.
SPEAKER_00: What we're saying is that Easter is the culmination of Jesus' life.
SPEAKER_00: He lived the perfect life, he died a horrible death, and was raised to life as the culmination of everything he'd been about.
SPEAKER_00: But actually, what we're saying is it's more than that.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the culmination of his life, it's the culmination of the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_00: The whole Old Testament has been building to this.
SPEAKER_00: And that's actually what Luke 24 tells us.
SPEAKER_00: So look at verse 6 with me.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at a couple passages real quick and then we'll explain them.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 24, 6.
SPEAKER_00: The angel says this, he is not here but has risen.
SPEAKER_00: Remember how he told you while he was in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered, must be as important, must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise.
SPEAKER_00: Why do they say he must be crucified?
SPEAKER_00: Because it was to fulfill what the Old Testament had said about him.
SPEAKER_00: It's a culmination of the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Now, look down at Luke 24 into verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus in the second scene.
SPEAKER_00: He's on the road with the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he says: He said to them, Oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to belief, all that the prophets had spoken.
SPEAKER_00: Was it necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?
SPEAKER_00: And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at verse 44, you'd see almost the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is with the disciples in their room, and he goes back and says, Let's go through the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you how it's all about me.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Guys, let me explain this to you.
SPEAKER_00: Like anybody here say, I would like to be in the Jesus-led community group where he does the Old Testament Bible study and takes me through the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like I feel like they would run out of room for that one real quick, and it'd be like standing room only.
SPEAKER_00: But I just kind of, in my mind, I imagine it like this.
SPEAKER_00: Like Jesus taking these guys through these guys, let's go back to the very, very beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Go back to the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: Here you have Adam and Eve in the garden paradise, perfect relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: And where did things go south?
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 3, it says that Eve took the apple and ate.
SPEAKER_00: She took and she ate.
SPEAKER_00: And I can see Jesus looking at the disciples and saying, guys, that take and eat.
SPEAKER_00: I'll come back to that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget those two words.
SPEAKER_00: But it brought death.
SPEAKER_00: And ever since, people have been looking at God's rules, saying, they're so restrictive.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you gotta be so heavy-handed?
SPEAKER_00: Why can't you let me do the stuff I want to do?
SPEAKER_00: Which is an interesting thing because if you think about the first rules that God gave, it was a whole bunch of go do this, go do this, go do this, eat from any tree you want except for the one.
SPEAKER_00: Like what were the first things God said to his humans?
SPEAKER_00: Guys, go be fruitful and multiply.
SPEAKER_00: Great.
SPEAKER_00: And then after that, what does he say to them?
SPEAKER_00: Fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over it.
SPEAKER_00: Like, build whatever cool stuff you want to build.
SPEAKER_00: So that you can rule over the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you think you need a bigger F 250, great, go build it.
SPEAKER_00: Have as much fun as you can.
SPEAKER_00: If you think you need a self-driving vacuum cleaner to get the house clean, great, go build one of those.
SPEAKER_00: You want a self-driving car, awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Have as much fun as you can.
SPEAKER_00: Fill the earth and subdue it.
SPEAKER_00: You think you're gonna need this thing called the internet?
SPEAKER_00: People have existed without it for thousands of years, but you think you need it.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: You want a device called an iPhone.
SPEAKER_00: This other thing called Chat GPT.
SPEAKER_00: Like, build anything you want so that you can rule over the earth and subdue it.
SPEAKER_00: Have as much fun as you can, and it'll all point back to me.
SPEAKER_00: And then we look at God and like, why are you the fun stopper?
SPEAKER_00: It's like his rules sound pretty great in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_00: Like, does he say, Don't do things that sometimes I want to do?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not because he's against my joy.
SPEAKER_00: He's given so much latitude here.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens when the people turn against God and say, God, we don't want to do it your way.
SPEAKER_00: We do want to do it our way.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve became naked and ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus begins to explain to everyone around.
SPEAKER_00: He says, they created their coverings.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that they created fig leaves.
SPEAKER_00: And I can just imagine Jesus looking, you know, they're on the road with these two guys, saying, Guys, don't you realize this was the first false religion?
SPEAKER_00: Where people said, Here's my guilt and here's my shame, and I can cover up myself.
SPEAKER_00: Got started right there in Genesis 3.
SPEAKER_00: I remember hearing, you know, as a as a kid, there's ways you can reject God.
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of heard the, maybe the standard line, maybe you heard it like, yeah, you're gonna reject God through like beer and sex and rock music.
SPEAKER_00: And you can definitely reject God through beer and sex and rock music, but that's the problem's not with those things per se, it's it's with you, with you saying the posture of my heart is saying, I can do this.
SPEAKER_00: I've got it covered, just like Adam and Eve saying, I can cover my guilt and my shame.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the reality: you can have that same heart posture to say, I'm gonna cover up my guilt and my shame.
SPEAKER_00: And you can wear the fig leaves of Sunday school, and you can wear the fig leaves of mission trips, and you can wear the fig leaves of working in the nursery when the heart posture is I can cover myself before God, I can make myself acceptable to God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it can be good things or bad things that we use to reject God.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus tells his disciples that the first false religion was trying to cover up your own shame.
SPEAKER_00: And so, do you know what God did?
SPEAKER_00: He killed an animal on their behalf and said, I will make a covering for you because you couldn't cover yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I'll do for you what you couldn't do.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Guys, God has always been in the business of pursuing his kids when they weren't real interested in him and providing for his kids when they thought they had it covered.
SPEAKER_00: And from the very beginning, this is what God has been doing.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, guys, let's let's not get stuck in Exodus here or in Genesis here.
SPEAKER_00: Let's get ahead to Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: And he he goes to the plagues while they're in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says to his disciples, you remember all the plagues came down.
SPEAKER_00: It came to the last plague where the death angel comes and he judges.
SPEAKER_00: And the firstborn of every house is killed.
SPEAKER_00: It's a reminder that sin brings death.
SPEAKER_00: It always brings death, then and now.
SPEAKER_00: And how were those people spared?
SPEAKER_00: If they would take an unblemished lamb, this is like Exodus 12, 13, 14, 15, and they would kill the lamb, and they would take the blood of the lamb, the unblemished lamb, and apply it to the doorposts, to the lentils.
SPEAKER_00: And so you think about it, you've got the doorpost going up, and the lentil goes wider than the doorpost, right?
SPEAKER_00: So the blood goes up the doorpost, across the lentil, out wider than the doorpost, forming a bloody cross.
SPEAKER_00: And anyone who would apply the blood of the lamb to the doorpost and the lentil, forming that cross right there, they took refuge under the blood of the lamb.
SPEAKER_00: They would be saved from the judgment of death coming upon their sin because somebody else took the punishment for them.
SPEAKER_00: And all throughout Israelite history, they would go on celebrating this Passover where the death angel passed over because they took refuge under the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And you fast forward 1,500 years, and Jesus says to his disciples, guys, do you remember when I first showed up on the scene?
SPEAKER_00: We're out in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: This is John chapter one, and John looks at me and says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The very first time that phrase has been used in the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_00: The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who doesn't merely provide a covering, but a full removal.
SPEAKER_00: Not a lamb who would die and then need a new one next year at Passover to be sacrificed, but a lamb who would die, pay for sin, remove sin, and then rise from the dead to conquer death, hell, sin, and Satan once and for all.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, That's me, guys.
SPEAKER_00: He looks back within.
SPEAKER_00: They're walking on this road to Emmaus.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Do you guys remember just a couple of days ago, sitting at the Last Supper when we were all together?
SPEAKER_00: You guys remember we were sitting around the table and we had the bread and the wine, the veggies, we're all sitting there.
SPEAKER_00: But there was one thing missing on the table.
SPEAKER_00: There was no Passover lamb on the table because the Passover lamb was sitting at the table.
SPEAKER_00: And you guys remember what I said to you?
SPEAKER_00: I said, This is my body broken for you.
SPEAKER_00: Take and eat.
SPEAKER_00: It brought death and judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And now, it's like Jesus says, watch this, Satan.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take those two words, take and eat, that used to bring death and judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And now, because of my sacrifice, they now bring salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Take this bread, drink this juice as a remembrance of what I've done for you.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says to his disciples, guys, this whole thing was about me.
SPEAKER_00: It's the most epic of all reversals.
SPEAKER_00: Everything's been building up to this point.
SPEAKER_00: I am the true and better Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
SPEAKER_00: I am the true and better Passover feast where you can be delivered.
SPEAKER_00: And you have a choice, disciples.
SPEAKER_00: You can respond like Adam and Eve and say, Oh no, God, we've got this.
SPEAKER_00: We can cover our guilt.
SPEAKER_00: We can work at this.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need your help.
SPEAKER_00: Or, like the Israelites in Egypt, you can say, We're in deep trouble, and judgment is coming because of my sin, and my only hope is to take refuge under the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, this is beautiful to see.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just a historical reality, it is the most epic of all stories.
SPEAKER_00: And this is exactly what Jesus was explaining to his disciples on the Erote Emaeus and in that room with the apostles all together.
SPEAKER_00: There is free forgiveness made available to any who would simply say, I want to take refuge under the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a Christian, that is the call this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Take refuge under the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Quit trying to cover yourself with hard work or with religious activity.
SPEAKER_00: Quit trying to cover yourself with a pursuit of pleasure or anything else that stands in the way of the only thing that can spare you from God's judgment and the wrath to come.
SPEAKER_00: It's only Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And because he rose from the dead, he can actually spare you from it.
SPEAKER_00: Easter is historical, but it's also deeply theological and it will change your life, which brings us to the third point this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Easter is transformational.
SPEAKER_00: When you read through Luke 24, it's very fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: Every single character in the story is transformed when they encounter the risen Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of them.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you just a couple here.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says about the ladies.
SPEAKER_00: And they remembered his words.
SPEAKER_00: And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
SPEAKER_00: What happens to the ladies?
SPEAKER_00: They go from tears of sorrow to testifying with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Because they saw Jesus alive, and people have to know.
SPEAKER_00: Complete turnaround right there.
SPEAKER_00: Drop down to verse 31.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the guys on the road to Emmaus.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight.
SPEAKER_00: Like, just pause for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Would that not be incredible to be there?
SPEAKER_00: He's telling you this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's so cool, so cool, so cool.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes are open, oh, it's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Boom, gone.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're just looking at each like, did that just happen, bro?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Keep reading.
SPEAKER_00: They said to one another, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road?
SPEAKER_00: While he opened to us the scriptures, and they rose that same hour.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't take a break.
SPEAKER_00: They returned to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They found the eleven and those who are with them, gathered together, saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.
SPEAKER_00: Then they told what happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread.
SPEAKER_00: These guys, they went from grief to absolute gladness.
SPEAKER_00: They said, Our hearts burned.
SPEAKER_00: Like clearly, this guy had aura, but we didn't know what all was going on.
SPEAKER_00: And then we saw.
SPEAKER_00: Like that takes a lot of Bible knowledge to tell Jesus about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But they weren't there yet.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you're here this morning and you know a lot about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You've sat in a lot of Sunday school lessons.
SPEAKER_00: You've sat in a lot of Sunday morning sermons.
SPEAKER_00: But why was knowing a lot about Jesus not enough for these guys?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's the same reason that the demons know all kinds of stuff about Jesus and it's not enough for them either.
SPEAKER_00: Because they hadn't submitted in worship to Jesus as the resurrected King of all the universe.
SPEAKER_00: It was just head knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: It had not sunk down into their heart.
SPEAKER_00: You can talk a real good Jesus game, but when your life has not yet been submitted, he's calling you to submit your life and be changed by what he did, not just to know about what he did.
SPEAKER_00: This is something I see all over the American church.
SPEAKER_00: People that know about the Bible, they retweet, they repost, they share stuff on every social media platform.
SPEAKER_00: And yet for them, Christianity is not a full life submission to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if that's you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: What does your first step in submitting your life to Jesus look like this afternoon?
SPEAKER_00: It might be a conversation with me or one of our pastors.
SPEAKER_00: Say, I realized I am not living in full submission to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like the guys on the road to Emmaus.
SPEAKER_00: My life needs to change.
SPEAKER_00: Can we talk about it?
SPEAKER_00: And I say, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the other thing I want you to see about Jesus talking to these dudes on the road.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that they're close.
SPEAKER_00: He knows that they have head knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't come in heavy-handedly, slapping them across the head like, guys, how many Sunday school lessons did you have to hear?
SPEAKER_00: What's wrong with you, knuckleheads?
SPEAKER_00: No, he patiently walks with them.
SPEAKER_00: Seven miles.
SPEAKER_00: Sits down and eats with them.
SPEAKER_00: Gracious.
SPEAKER_00: Does he call them out?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Oh yeah, you guys are slow of heart to believe.
SPEAKER_00: Like you need to see this.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is patient.
SPEAKER_00: And he's patient with you as well.
SPEAKER_00: His grace extends to you.
SPEAKER_00: Come to him this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you another transformation evidence here in Luke 24.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 41.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus in the room with the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He says, verse 41, while they were still disbelieving for joy and marveling.
SPEAKER_00: That's code, for they had no idea what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: Disbelieving for joy and marveling.
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, Have you anything here to eat?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're just looking back at each other all over, and he's like, guys, I have not eaten in three days.
SPEAKER_00: Did you miss that part?
SPEAKER_00: I was I was in the tomb thing.
SPEAKER_00: It was locked up.
SPEAKER_00: Drop down to verse 51.
SPEAKER_00: It says, While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven, and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.
SPEAKER_00: The Messiah had come, the one worthy of worship.
SPEAKER_00: They are continually where?
SPEAKER_00: In the temple praising God.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss the importance of that.
SPEAKER_00: Who else is in the temple?
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish leaders.
SPEAKER_00: Who just killed Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Jewish leaders.
SPEAKER_00: So how did these disciples go from so scared that they're locking themselves in their room to going straight to the place where the murderous Jewish leaders are and they are constantly praising God there?
SPEAKER_00: How do they go from fear to faith?
SPEAKER_00: They saw the risen Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And their calculus on life for what was scary and what wasn't, for what is an appropriate risk and what wasn't, totally changed.
SPEAKER_00: Like Park said, I think one of the things we need to hear really clearly is that we need to be stopped, we need to stop being so concerned with living a safe life.
SPEAKER_00: Like you talk about idols of the 21st century.
SPEAKER_00: Our kids got more safety gear on a Huffy bike than the first astronauts did on the moon.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just crazy.
SPEAKER_00: And we live our lives so afraid of what about this?
SPEAKER_00: What about that?
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes Christians even contribute to it.
SPEAKER_00: You hear Christians say, Well, the safest place to be is in the center of God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Pretty sure Jesus was in the center of God's will.
SPEAKER_00: The cross got him killed.
SPEAKER_00: And all throughout Christian history, we can see people going, telling others about Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And it costs them something.
SPEAKER_00: It costs them a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes cost them their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And it's exactly what God had for them.
SPEAKER_00: They love not their lives even to death.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, Park said, there's something worse than dying.
SPEAKER_00: It's real important you get this straight because the world is not going to tell it to you.
SPEAKER_00: There is something worse than dying.
SPEAKER_00: It's wasting your life.
SPEAKER_00: Don't waste your life.
SPEAKER_00: See that the king who died has also risen.
SPEAKER_00: And if the grave is empty, then your destiny is secure, and nothing can keep you from being with him in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: So let's get going, living on mission, telling others about Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Like I realize you're concerned.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe people will think you're weird.
SPEAKER_00: You are weird.
SPEAKER_00: Like you believe, if you're a Christian, that a guy died, was put in the grave, and walked out three days later.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of weird to believe.
SPEAKER_00: And there's other weird stuff in the Bible, too.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we shouldn't be so concerned with what people think.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe somebody will make fun of you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your employer would say, you know what, we got somebody else for that role.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need you there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe our government at one day would say, I've got a jail cell for you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe for some of you, it would even cost you your life.
SPEAKER_00: But if the grave is empty, then your destiny is secure.
SPEAKER_00: And if the grave is empty, then anything is possible.
SPEAKER_00: And let's get going, living our lives, recognizing there is something worse than death.
SPEAKER_00: It's a wasted life.
SPEAKER_00: Let's not waste our lives, but live on mission for King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm trying to say, guys, is Easter transforms how Christians live and how they go on mission.
SPEAKER_00: It absolutely must.
SPEAKER_00: But it transforms you in a different way as well.
SPEAKER_00: It transforms how you see yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 7 says, because Jesus is alive, he can save you to the uttermost.
SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful phrase, Hebrews 7.25.
SPEAKER_00: He's not a half-hearted Savior, and he didn't come to save half-hearted sinners.
SPEAKER_00: He came as a real Savior to save real sinners who had not committed hypothetical, theoretical sins, but had really done bad stuff.
SPEAKER_00: He said, It's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I bore those wounds in my body on the tree.
SPEAKER_00: By my wounds, you can be healed.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if Jesus is alive, it changes the most important things about you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, your accomplishments are no longer the most important thing about you.
SPEAKER_00: Like you think, what is that accomplishment that I just want to hang my hat on?
SPEAKER_00: The thing that defines me.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Your accomplishments can't save you.
SPEAKER_00: Nor can your failures condemn you.
SPEAKER_00: Because the blood of Jesus Christ in the empty tomb speaks a better word.
SPEAKER_00: It says, No, this is who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And your family, no matter how proud of them you are, they can't save you.
SPEAKER_00: And no matter how ashamed of them you are, they can't condemn you.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus Christ died and lived, and he lives to save to the uttermost and say, My blood and my empty tomb speaks a better word over you.
SPEAKER_00: And your anxiety doesn't define you, your abortion doesn't define you, your divorce doesn't define you.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever this thing is, it feels like the biggest thing in your life, it isn't anymore because Jesus is alive, and that is the biggest thing in your life, and that is what defines you.
SPEAKER_00: How he had this idea that we live beyond, that the iPhone doesn't have an off-switch, and we don't have an off switch either.
SPEAKER_00: Because he was on to something.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if he became a Christian before he died or if he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how that worked out.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality of Easter means that you don't have an off-switch.
SPEAKER_00: You are going to live in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And where you spend eternity depends entirely with what you believe about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If he walked out of the grave or if he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: And if you take refuge under the blood of the Lamb, or if you don't.
SPEAKER_00: And I heard a guy say recently, he said, You remember Jesus' final words on the cross is, it is finished.
SPEAKER_00: And what that means is what he didn't say, he didn't say, I am finished.
SPEAKER_00: He said, It is finished, the work is finished.
SPEAKER_00: Because three days later he kept working by being raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And that was just the first fruits of his work.
SPEAKER_00: And if Jesus isn't done yet, that means you're not done yet.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's still working through you.
SPEAKER_00: He has you here for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're here, not a Christian, you don't totally know why you came, except somebody invited you.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, you're here that you will hear this message, that you can live in eternity with God and sins forgiven because Jesus is alive.
SPEAKER_00: And there's others of you that are here.
SPEAKER_00: And you think God has given up on you, you're too far gone.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wasn't finished, he's not finished, you're not finished.
SPEAKER_00: Get in the game.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to work through you.
SPEAKER_00: There's others of you, you're here, you're living with this like just commitment to safety.
SPEAKER_00: Play it safe, play it safe, play it safe.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus calling you to bold mission, saying, I walked out of that grave.
SPEAKER_00: And because the grave is empty, your destiny is secure.
SPEAKER_00: So let's get going.
SPEAKER_00: Follow me on the road.
SPEAKER_00: And I can work through somebody as unique, as weird, as limited as you.
SPEAKER_00: I can do it, and I intend to do that, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Death is dead, love is one, and Christ is alive.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord God, we stand in awe and wonder over all that you have done, over who you are, and over the fact that Jesus is alive.
SPEAKER_00: What a glorious truth it is to see and to celebrate, to sing about.
SPEAKER_00: Would you fill our hearts with wonder?
SPEAKER_00: Help us to see the beauty of the Savior, and would you change us by it?
SPEAKER_00: We pray these things in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.