Well, happy Easter, Englewood, turn to somebody sitting next to
you and say Christ is risen. If you have a Bible, take it and
turn to Luke 23. If you don't have a Bible, don't
worry, there'll be verses on the screen for you this morning.
If you're a guest here today, thank you so much for being with
us. We had a good crowd in that
first service. If you are a guest, please stop
by in the lobby after the service, introduce yourself to
Teresa and to me and we actually have a gift for you.
If you'd stop by to see us, we'd appreciate that very, very much.
Well, Easter means a lot of things to a lot of people and
for some it's a it's just a long weekend where they get a little
bit of a holiday from work or school.
For others, it's about time for visiting with relatives and
probably having a nice meal and maybe an Easter egg hunt.
For others, it's a tall tale about bunnies or or maybe
something else, maybe nothing else.
And for others, it's all about that basket full of candy.
A little boy showed up at Sunday school one day and it was Sunday
school. They're not connect groups and
didn't matter. And the teacher asked him, how
did you get that bruise on your arm?
Had a bad bruise on his arm. And she's kind of worried, like,
how'd you get that bruise on your arm?
And he says, well, I was eating Easter candy and the teacher
says you can't get a bruise on your arm from eating Easter
candy. And he says you sure can if it's
your big brother's candy. So at our house, we'd just be
fighting over Reese's miniatures because the ratio of peanut
butter to chocolate is better in the miniatures than it is in the
big ones. So that's what I've been told.
That was for Teresa. So there you go.
And others. I know it means more, but many
still have a kind of mixed up. And so a man and his wife and go
ahead and just forgive me in advance.
His cranky mother-in-law. The man and his wife and his
cranky mother-in-law went to the Holy Land and while they were
there the the mother-in-law tragically passed away.
And the local Funeral Home told the man, he says listen for
$5000 will help ship your mother-in-law home or you can
bury her here in the Holy Land for $150.00.
And the man thought for a moment and he says, well, I think we'll
go ahead and take her home. And the the Funeral Home
director was shocked. He goes, so you you'd rather
spend $5000 or when it would be wonderful to just have her
buried here for $150.00. And the man says, well, a man
died here about 2000 years ago and he was buried and three days
later he rose from the dead. And I just can't take that
chance. I told you to forgive me.
Now I have a one. For the record, I have a
wonderful mother-in-law. Listen, no more leaving anything
to chance. Today.
I want to talk about the real Easter.
We've just been walking very carefully this week throughout
Holy Week. And I appreciate those who've
been able to be with us all week.
For those who haven't, don't worry, we'll catch you up.
But we've just been walking through the word of God.
And this morning, I promise, as we do the same thing, you'll
have the chance for your life to be eternally changed.
So this past Wednesday night, Pastor Charles LED us in a
prayer time where we walked the Old Testament prophecies that
were fulfilled so clearly by Jesus.
There's no doubt about who he is.
And then Friday night we walked with our Lord as he willingly,
perfectly experienced death on the cross to pay for us And, and
you, and you really do need to pause there because it was for
us, it was for you, it was for me, it was for all of us.
And our sin paid for on the cross, completely perfectly paid
for. And if we believe in him.
And then this morning at sunrise, many of us gathered and
we talked about how they took his dead body and they wrapped
it and they laid it in a tomb. Jesus is dead in a sealed cave.
And so that brings us to now. So, So what chance does that
give us? A dead body wrapped up in a
cave? So we pick up the grand plan of
God right there. Jesus died on the cross on
Friday. A few of his followers barely
had time to claim his body and and begin to prepare him for
burial, but they ran out of time because of the Sabbath.
And that's where we pick up the story and Luke 23 beginning at
verse 55, the women who had come with him from Galilee followed
and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.
Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
See, they had to wait until the Sabbath was over.
But now, but now we're going to pick up and follow them because
it's Sunday morning and Sunday morning they, they wanted to
return. They, they still weren't done
preparing his body completely. And so they wanted to come and
fulfill the duty that they had for the one that they had
followed and loves so much. So Luke 24, verse one.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went
to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
In fact, the Bible will tell us that they would involve almost
75 lbs of of myrrh and aloe that they would layer in these lay
these these strips, these burial clothes that it would harden
into a mummy like shell to preserve the body that was as
close to embalming as they had so early.
Near dark I'm sure. Overwhelmed by fear and pain
because of what they had just been through, because of the
loss of their beloved Messiah, they come to the tomb.
Grieving, they come to the tomb. I'm sure incredibly confused.
Would they be stopped by the Roman guard?
Would the Romans even let them approach the body?
Would they even let them come to the tomb?
Would they be persecuted by the Jewish religious leaders who had
set up the arrest in the fake trial leading to his brutal
whipping to his crucifixion? Would they stopping?
Could they bear the weight of the massive stone that formed
the door, or the even heavier weight of the movement of their
hearts to once again have to look upon the broken body of
Jesus? They'd seen him on that wretched
cross. They'd seen him when they laid
him in The Cave. But remember, we get a chance,
and so did they. A chance to be changed today.
Look at verse 2. And they found the stone rolled
away from the tomb. But when they went in, they did
not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
What? What?
Wait a minute.
Where? Where's his body?
It was broke. Where's His?
The tombs empty. After all we've been through,
how could this be happening? What's going on?
What are we going to do now and then like God often does out of
nowhere? Verse 4 While they were
perplexed about this, behold, 2 men stood by them, and dazzling
apparel. And as they were frightened and
bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you
seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, that
the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and on the third day rise.
And they remembered his words. See, God often does this.
Then out of nowhere, stuff it. Just when there doesn't seem to
be any way out. Just when there doesn't seem to
be any answer, Just when there doesn't seem to be any hope.
Just when there doesn't seem to be any clue what to do next,
anything to look forward to. Facing life's biggest questions.
No more chances. Just a dark empty void staring
in the face. Very often out of nowhere, God 2
dazzling angels appeared. I'm not sure what it would take
to dazzle some people today. What would it take to dazzle
you? Probably not a word you use in
everyday conversation. I was just dazzled.
What's it going to take to dazzle you?
Give God a chance today and I promise He'll dazzle you too.
He will. They asked the question for the
ages. These angels did.
Why do you seek the living among the dead?
The tombs are for the dead. They're not for the living.
Don't look here. This isn't the place to look.
So that empty void into which you might be staring in your
life right now, that any sense of hopelessness, any sense of
confusion, that's not going to give you the answers you need.
This world won't give you the answers you need.
Your own self defined truth, your own self defined rightness,
your own self-sufficiency, and that independence you think you
have on your own, it will not answer your questions.
You need a dazzling answer from the one who conquered sin and
death, from the one who is alive.
He is not here, but is risen. I'm here this morning to
proclaim to you very simply, Jesus lives.
And I need you to hear that he lives and he can give you the
answers that you need for your life.
The empty tomb declared Jesus Lord of all and guarantees our
ability, our chance to live forever with him.
Listen to Romans one we'll be in Romans starting in two weeks.
It's going to be incredible study.
You need to come back. We're going to study this great
book of doctrine and theology and truth and salvation starting
in two weeks And Romans 14 says and was declared to be the Son
of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his
resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Wait a minute. So does this mean we still have
a chance? We still have a chance.
Look at verse 9 of Luke 24. And returning from the tomb.
They told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest.
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. But these words seem to them an
idle tale and they did not believe them.
Now, remember, they weren't expecting any of this.
It's interesting because we know and we look back and maybe we
need to cut them a little slack. Jesus warned them multiple times
that this was going to happen. But but they needed the Holy
Spirit to build a process. All of this really.
And, and they weren't, they weren't ready for it yet.
They they, they didn't know what to do with what had just
happened to Jesus. I mean, they've been through a
lot in the last few days. They'd experience enough tragedy
to put them into hiding. They some fled, some rejected,
many just coward every. They didn't.
They denied even knowing Jesus. So their own guilt for the way
they had mishandled all of this must have also weighed heavily
upon them as they were trying to deal with this by their own
strength. It must have been overwhelming.
So they were still not sure any of this was really true.
Maybe that's you this morning. It's just an idle tale.
It's just a fairy tale that Christians make up.
Surely this is not true. Locked in fear and grief, This
news was too much to easily embrace.
Life had just been too hard. Faith did not come easy.
And again, maybe that's you this morning.
You. You've had enough tragedy.
You've had enough hardness, you've had enough fear, you've
had enough grief to make all of this just seem like a fairy tale
more than eternal truth. You're locked up to such a
degree that unbelief directs your path.
This morning. No way this could be true,
Preacher. I didn't need any of this.
I came for lunch. Is it lunch yet?
I came for Grandma's cooking. No way.
Jesus could have really done this.
Not for me. Not for me, no chance it was for
me. You don't understand who me is.
God would not, could not, not for somebody like me.
I mean, even if I believed I'm not worth it, I'm not worth it
to Him. Not me.
This Wednesday I'm going to share my complete unedited
testimony. I've shared other versions and
bits and pieces, but several have asked me to do this and you
need to come here. My story.
It's a story with drama, violence, heartache, a lot of
failure, a lot of hardness, multiple lost battles, but
ultimately final victory. Not because of me or anything
that I did, but because of him and the truth of this story.
The truth of his work on the cross and the truth of an empty
tomb. If you don't believe, if you
struggle with belief, you need to come Wednesday night and
listen. If you know somebody who's rough
around the edges, who struggles with life, you need to get them
here Wednesday night at 6:30 as I share with you, because if God
could save me and still forgive me, you all have a chance.
Verse 12 says, but Peter now notice that it's Peter and it's
Peter the one who denied Christ three times the rock who said
I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, I'll never give up
on you. Jesus, and yet couldn't even
stand up to proclaim he knew him in front of strangers had a
little campfire. But Peter rose and ran to the
tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen clothes by
themselves and he went home marvelling at what had happened.
And so we see him going and running to the tomb.
Other gospels tell us that John ran with him.
They had to see for themselves. That's what I'm inviting you to
do today. Come see for yourself.
I encourage you to keep running with us here at Inglewood.
Whether you believe or not, whether you doubt this or not,
you keep running with us and we will lead you to an empty tomb
and the one who left it behind. I promise.
We're on a journey here together.
An imperfect people on an imperfect journey at times.
I promised you. But you would be most welcome to
come along, to keep seeing, to keep verifying, to keep
learning. Now, later, Jesus also appeared
to two of his disciples walking along the road, but they
couldn't recognize him yet. They they weren't ready for it
yet. And again, sometimes he just
appears out of nowhere and, and, and just in time, he'll show up
just when we need him most, he'll be there.
But but again, surely maybe you think not for me.
No way. This is for me, not me.
I no way I could believe this. There's not a chance.
So you came here this morning for various reasons, but you
weren't quite ready for the confrontation of the Holy
Spirit. But he's given you a chance.
He's given you a chance this morning.
And so they spoke of his death and he shared about how the the
whole Bible pointed to him. I was reading about a
fascinating story about this book.
This is one story about Jesus Christ, whether you understand
that or not. In fact, there's a computer
scientist and a Lutheran pastor in Germany who've just conducted
an incredible study using computer software where they
found 63,779 direct connections between various passages,
truths, and points throughout this Bible, binding all of this
together as one story. It it, it transcends 66 books of
scripture that that with 40 authors written over 1500 years
in three languages on three continents.
And yet this is one story. This this project transformed
centuries of textual study into a structured data set recording
these thousands of relationships between these verses.
Who do you think wrote this book?
Who do you think this is from? I mean, it might take more faith
to believe it's not God's word than it the fact that it is.
I'm telling you a true story this morning, a true story that
changed my life. So Jesus is appearing to these
two disciples. Look at verse 30.
When he was at the table with them, he took the bread and
blessed and broke it, and gave it to them, and their eyes were
opened, and they recognized Him, and he vanished from their
sight. They said to each other, Did not
our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road,
while while he opened to us the Scriptures?
And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and they
found the 11. And those who are with them
gathered together, saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has
appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened
on the road, and how he was known to them, and the breaking
of the bread. Honest, authentic testimonies of
the impact of the the empty tomb.
These are powerful and they must be shared and they still must be
shared. I mean, what for those of you
who are believers, does He still burn your heart with His word?
Does He still open the scriptures to you to help you to
understand how to navigate this thing called life?
For those of you who don't know him, would you like Him to?
Would you ask Him to today? Will you tell someone else when
He does? Will you celebrate and share His
resurrection? That's what Easter is about.
Look at verse 36. And they were talking about
these things. Jesus himself stood among them
and said of them, Peace to you. But they were startled and
frightened, and thought they saw a spirit.
And he said to them, Why are you troubled?
And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones,
as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he
showed them his hands and his feet.
And while they still disbelieve for joy and were marvelling, he
said to them, Have you anything here to eat?
And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and
ate before them. I told you, sometimes out of
nowhere, God, again, out of nowhere, suddenly stood among
them. He often works like that all of
a sudden. And, and you could ask him to do
that right now in your heart. All of a sudden he'll show up.
All of a sudden you could be saved today.
Death couldn't stop him. Locked doors certainly couldn't
stop him. But it was more, if you notice,
more than the disciples could handle.
They're still struggling with it.
And Jesus knew. Why are you troubled?
Why do doubts arise in your hearts?
What do you mean, Jesus? I mean, what a crazy question.
This is unreasonable. This is not logical.
This is not backed by science. There's no way this really
happened. There's not a chance.
Especially not for me. Not me.
We must be hallucinating. It must be that bad gas station
falafel we ate last night, boys. But here he was.
And he proves the the the detail of this passage is here for a
reason. He proves it's him in a physical
way. He's in the flesh.
See the ones from the cross. Touch me and see, folks, this is
me. Want you to see that too today.
A physical. Bodily resurrection.
In fact, he says, let me have some of that healthy broiled
fish you guys have cooked. He might have said, I'm a little
disappointed. You could have had the fish fry
going, could have had a little hush puppy, some coleslaw and
some of that tater salad going boys, but we'll take the broiled
fish. I know lunch, I know it's
coming. Lunch is coming.
Look at verse 44. Then he said to them, These are
my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that
everything written about me in the law of Moses and the
prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
This entire book, it's about him.
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and
said to them. Thus it is written that the
Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be
proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these
things. See, listen to me.
The stone wasn't rolled away so that Jesus could get out.
The stone was rolled away so that we could look in and
believe. We need to recognize that here I
am proclaiming to you the same message to you.
And within days, thousands of people would be saved.
Billions more have been saved. Many of you have been saved.
I was too. Amazingly, miraculously, there
wouldn't have been much of a chance for me to have been saved
had he not made a way. But just like he's doing that
for them and helping them to understand, maybe he's doing
that for you right now. That's my prayer.
I've been begging God for that, that you'd be saved, that
believers would experience revival, that that we've
experienced rededication, but that non believers, guests and
friends who you've invited would actually be saved today, much
like a young man was Friday night.
And you might still be saying to yourself, yeah, good for you,
preacher, but no chance for me. It can't be for me.
Surely none of this is for me. I just came for lunch.
So let me be as clear with you as I possibly can.
We've been talking all week leading toward this.
First Corinthians 15 says, For I delivered to you as of first
importance what I also received. Here's the gospel that Christ
died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.
That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures. This is the gospel.
This is the truth. This is the way.
It's the only way to be forgiven, to be restored, to be
healed, to be freed, to be saved, to have eternal life with
God. And for many of you, this day
should be a great celebration. For some of you, this is your
chance right now, and God will remind you of it later, I
promise. Because it says that in here
too. Our three-year old granddaughter
Millie was at our house with Teresa or Mimi as she's known,
and she was playing with one of these little Jesus figures.
You know, these little Jesus figures, you see them around
people, give them to you need a little bit of Jesus today.
And somebody hands you one of these.
And she was playing with one of these and, and she walks over to
my giant recliner. I got this big man recliner.
One of the funniest things I hear almost every week in the
lobby is you're shorter on the platform.
But I have a big man recliner and she says that right down in
the seat of the recliner. And she looks up Teresa and she
just says Pawpaw loves Jesus and just leaves him right there
until I got home. You're so right, Millie.
Pawpaw loves Jesus very much. He saved me with my many sins,
my incredible imperfections. I mean, you need to understand
that He genuinely saved me, and He wants to do the same thing
for you. Nothing else could have done it.
Nothing else would have done it. But He gave me a chance and He
redeemed me. And I've been begging Him to do
the same thing to you this morning.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life. That's Easter.
That's why we're here. That's what we celebrate.
Whoever, yes, whoever. That means you too.
It meant me. If it means me, it could mean
anybody means you too. Right now, right here on Easter.
Believe, trust, depend upon. Put your whole weight into Him.
Let Him control you. Let Him save you.
See, I told you, you have a chance.
Here it is. I hope you take it.
For those of us who know Him, I hope this is a moment for us to
remember and to cherish and to ask God to continue to burn His
word into our hearts and let us never forget what He's done for
us, His sacrifice and His resurrection.
Join us on this journey and experience the impact of the
empty tomb. Father, we're so thankful.
No way without you, no way it could happen.
But because of what you did, You gave us a chance.
Father, you extend your gracious gift to us, but by faith we have
to accept it. That thing called free will.
So, Father, I pray right now for those of us who know you that
this is a moment of revival, of recommitment, of rededication,
realignment. Maybe we haven't been walking in
step with you like we should. And so, Father, I pray this
morning is a time, well, we recognize it's time for me to
make that adjustment and walk with the Lord like I'm supposed
to. For others.
This might be brand new. Father, I pray right now that
you would Pierce their heart and help them to understand how much
you love them and how much you want them to know you if they're
there here this morning. And I pray they might pray a
simple prayer like this. Father, I know I'm a Sinner.
I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin.
I believe that Jesus is the only one who can save me.
And so right now, I ask Jesus to come into my heart to be my
Savior, to be my Lord. And with the help of the Holy
Spirit, I want to live my life for His glory through the
fellowship of the church. Father, if someone could pray a
prayer like that, or they want to know more about what it means
to trust in Christ that Father, as soon as we begin to sing, I
pray that they'll come and take a passenger by the hand or go to
our next steps room and say, I want to know more about what it
means to be saved, to be forgiven, to be restored, to be
made whole. I need peace, I need hope, I
need purpose, I need assurance. For some Christians, they may
need to come and pray at these steps as an altar of dedication
to you. Others may be needing to be
baptized or they they, they're seeking membership in a church
that teaches about you. Clearly, I pray they'll join us.
So whatever we need to do, Father, I pray that we're not in
such a hurry. Father, I've made sure we have
time. We're not in a hurry.
Lunch will be there, but first, Father, what do we need to do
with you? What do we need to do for you as
we recognize what you're doing to us?
Father, help us to respond in Christ's name, Amen.
I'm going to ask you to stand with me.
Pastors will be here. Our next steps room is open.
You can go straight to that room.
People love you in there. They just want to pray with you.
You can have private conversations in there.
You can come talk to us. You can come pray at these
steps. But don't hurry off.
Let's respond as our ushers take up the offering as well.
If you're our guest today, just put that next steps guard in
there. We'd love to have you a record
of you being with us, but you respond as Lord leads.