Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / April 20, 2025 | Easter Sunday

Transcript

April 20, 2025 | Easter Sunday · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: He is risen.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: He is risen indeed.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Happy Easter.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this is uh obviously such a day of celebration.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's good, right?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: It is the resurrection, is the hope that we have for the future.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is the foundation of our faith.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is, you might say, the reason for the season.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think we need to take that from Christmas.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We can use it now too, right?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: More than peeps, more than eggs.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: It is the resurrection of Christ.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're here this morning and um you're going, you know what?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure about all those things.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not ready just yet.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a bit of a skeptic here.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say, not only are you welcome and I'm glad you're here, but you're in the right place.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh 2,000 years ago, Easter morning, it was not filled with a whole lot of hope and certainty in that moment.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: See, after Jesus had died and he was placed in the tomb, uh his main group of people, his disciples, they were really struggling.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, Easter morning, they were in a locked room, uh terrified that the same people who had just arrested and killed Jesus were coming after them too.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Then you've got elsewhere in the city the Jewish leaders.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're doing pretty good, right?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because they just got rid of Jesus.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: This guy they said was a false teacher, a blasphemer, he was a no-good, he was ultimately a false prophet, right?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: He was a liar.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so they killed him and they were glad that he was gone.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Then you've got the Romans, right?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Pontius Pilate, and he's glad that Jesus is gone just because he was a nuisance.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: He was a lot of trouble.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: He had said that he was the king of the Jews, and you know, that was kind of a threat to Caesar, and so even though Pontius believed that he was an innocent man, ultimately he's glad that Jesus is gone as well.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: But there's one group of people who are heading to the tomb Easter morning.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh select women who had followed after him.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: In our passage in Matthew, we'll see that it's Mary, two different Marys.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: But there were a couple women who were going there at daybreak, right?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: The sun is just coming out over the mountains and they're carrying uh oil and spices to go and prepare Jesus' body for burial.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know that he's risen from the dead.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: They think that they're going to go in and find him laid in a tomb, a couple days old.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, see, long story short, they didn't have time back on Friday to prepare his body for burial, and so they're gonna do it now.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're not expecting anything like a stone, um, anything like guards, and certainly not an angel who's going to start talking to them.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: There was a violent earthquake because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: The guards were so shaken by fear of him, they fainted.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: They became like dead men.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you're walking to the tomb, you've got oils and spices in your hand, and the ground beneath you begins to shake, right?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, the second earthquake that has happened in the last three days in Jerusalem, back on Friday, the moment that Christ gave up his spirit and died, the ground shook then too.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, there was a Roman soldier who had been stationed there to make sure that Jesus would die, uh, who saw Jesus give up his spirit, and the ground began to shake, and he came to faith in Christ.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: A couple days later, now the ground is shaking again.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But this time it is because this massive multi-ton stone is being rolled out of the way, and an angel is coming down to sit on it like it's his break room chair, right?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna have a conversation with these ladies.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: See, there are a whole lot of um sort of tricks, you might say, that the uh the Jewish leaders and the Romans had done to make sure nobody was gonna take the body of Jesus.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody really believed that he was gonna come back from the dead.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like very few people thought that was gonna happen, but they had heard that some of the followers of Christ were saying this sort of thing.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so they put this huge stone in the way, they sealed it with wax, and then they put guards in front of it just to make sure nobody came and tried to take the body and, you know, weakened it burnies sort of thing, right?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so they are prepared to hold back anybody who might come and try and rob this grave.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't expecting the guy on the inside to do it, though.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as this angel uh comes and speaks with these women who have prepared, they're shocked.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing he says to them, right, is Don't be afraid.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know you are looking for Jesus who is crucified.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: He is not here, for he is risen just as he said.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see the place where he lay.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then go quickly and tell his disciples.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: He has risen from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: You will see him there.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, I have told you.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So this angel is uh really gives three instructions to the women.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: The first is he says, Don't be afraid, right?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Do not fear.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is what angels often have to say when they appear to people.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about them that kind of freaks us out just a little bit, and they're like, nah, calm down.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be okay.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Come from the good guy, right?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So they say, Don't be afraid, right?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, there is, you could not be in a safer place.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: This empty tomb here, it represents the fact that the Lord that you worship was right all along, that everything he said was true, and you can trust in him as your God.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it shows that he has defeated the greatest obstacle that this world has, which is death itself.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so he says, Don't be afraid.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know this is not what you were expecting.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's miraculous, it's shocking, certainly, but you're gonna be okay.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so then he invites them in.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Come and see.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't go into this divine monologue about what's happened.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there will be time for explanations later.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, it is the shocking truth that Christ is no longer in the tomb as a dead body.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so he says, Come and see, right?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, walk in, take a look for yourself, like duck your head, step over the guards who've fainted, okay?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, come on in.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Look, he even took the time to fold his burial clothes before he left.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: We don't do that normally before we leave in the morning.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus did it before he rose from the dead.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's there's this invitation that they would not just turn off their brains and just accept whatever was being said, but he's like, come, touch, feel, ask the hard questions, both then and now.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: A relationship with God is not something where you are being told that you just have to trust without any sort of evidence.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: But rather, God invites you to come and see, ask the questions.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: He can take it, right?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: There was nothing that the angel or the Lord had to hide.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever they found was going to be true, and it proved the resurrection.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Third and finally, as he says, go and tell some people about this.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is the best news that the world has ever seen or will ever hear, right?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is not just another sort of miracle that Jesus has done.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a neat thing to add to his resume, okay?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: The resurrection is something that absolutely transforms our way of understanding who God is, what he has done, and what he will do in the future.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so the angel is telling them, like, you need to go and tell some more people about this.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: You need to go and tell some more people so they can understand and hear this good news.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so the ladies say, I don't know if they drop what they've got or they just keep hold of it, but they start running the other direction, right?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, appropriate, they ran to tell his disciples the news.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just then Jesus met them and said, Greetings.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus told them, Do not be afraid.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: There it is, go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I love how casual this moment is with Jesus that, you know, the resurrection has just taken place, and he meets them on the road, and he's like, Hey, what's going on?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how's your Sunday?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's so all the questions they might have, but uh, understandably, the the ladies they don't match his intensity there.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they run towards him, they bow down at his feet, they grab hold of him and begin to worship, right?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: That is the appropriate reaction when you meet a king.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus is not just like their friend who has come back from the dead.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's not just an authority figure.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: He is not, it's not just the shock and awe of the fact that somebody in flesh and blood is right in front of them.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is the fact that their king has come back.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so they do what is most appropriate.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: See, one of the details about the resurrection that we don't normally think about is that it is the coronation of a king.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you were with us last Sunday, it's okay if you weren't, but if you were with us last Sunday, we talked about when Jesus rode into Jerusalem a week earlier, right, than the moment we're talking about.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And as he rode into Jerusalem on this donkey, and people put uh palm fronds and their clothing in front of him as sort of this like carpet for him to walk on.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: That if you were familiar with the Old Testament, it was all of these signs that he has come as the king.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: He is announcing his royal lineage.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: He is the son of David, he is the Messiah, he is the Savior of the world, all of those things wrapped up into one.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: This was his sort of party to announce to the world, yeah, that's that's who I am.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: But even then, in this royal procession, Jesus is telling people who he is.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And there's fantastic reason to believe everything he said, but now, back from the dead, he's proved it.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: He called his shot and then he took it.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so when Jesus comes back here and he's speaking to them and it's greetings, yes, but it is also, I am the king.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we see that the Father, God, gives the Son, God, this power over death and gives him all authority on heaven and in earth.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And because he is lifted up as the king, we also see that the message changes just a little bit.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Before Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus held a lot of QA sessions, right?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of like, wait, what's going on?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me that again, didn't understand what you said.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're who, and you're gonna do what, and what does that mean for me?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is answering them over and over and over again.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of preparation, expectation, helping them to understand what he is about to do.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: But when Jesus comes back from the dead, the time of preparation is over, and now it is the time of invitation.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: You see that Jesus in this pivot in his language, he begins to talk a whole lot more about what's coming in the future.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's a whole lot more about that kingdom that he's been discussing for a while, right?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: The one that has all of these truths about it that sound so shocking to the rest of the world, that kingdom is coming.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you knew it, maybe you didn't, but Jesus did not just resurrect and go straight up to heaven.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: He stays around for 40 days, appears to hundreds of people.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes a thing later on in the New Testament when the writers are sending letters to the churches, maybe a couple decades after Jesus came back, they're going, Hey, I know that what I'm telling you is hard to believe.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I invite you, it's its own kind of come and see.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: I invite you to go and talk to some of the other hundreds of people who are still alive, who saw the risen king.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: They talked with him, they ate with him, they heard him teach, right?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: I invite you to come and see and hear what he's doing.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Many convincing proofs, but also what did Jesus talk about?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: His coming kingdom.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: You could see he had a clarity in his message that was a little bit different than beforehand.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Beforehand, it was about, let me tell you what it means to be the Savior, right?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: About the condition of our world, how broken it is, like why I am here to be a sacrifice for you.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: But now again, he is saying, this kingdom that I've been talking about, it is coming.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the kingdom that Jesus has been discussing and telling people about, it's shocking to the senses because there's no kingdom on earth like it.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, first and foremost, there's no pain, there's no suffering, there's no tears, there's no disease, there's no more crying, there's no I mean, we get to see our lost loved ones.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: There are all these beautiful things about it.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Death is overcome, yes, but also many of the pains of this world that we see, like injustice and anxiety, right?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: The loss and struggle that we have in this world, the fact that there are things that happen that should not happen, Jesus says, yep, not so in my kingdom.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: My kingdom is different.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: My kingdom, it is the one where the lowest are raised to the highest, and the ones who are proud in this world are brought low.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a kind of kingdom that you have never, ever seen before.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: The other unique detail about Christ's kingdom is that it is forever.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Not a really, really, really, really long time, but forever.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of those things like we never can wrap our mind around it because nothing that we've ever experienced in this life or will experience lasts forever.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: It all ends.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: It all crumbles eventually.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hands, but I know, right?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of you a couple years ago who thought, I'm gonna be baking sourdough bread, and I am a person who bakes bread, and this is gonna be me for the rest of my life.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: You bought you got your starter going, right?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: You got your special flour, you got your recipes, you did your Dutch oven thing, you did the parchment, all that, and you even made like a jalapeno cheddar loaf for your neighbor because you were really feeling yourself, and you're like, I am a person who bakes bread.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is who I am.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then, I don't know, a couple years later, maybe a couple weeks later, you're just like, I am not.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Never mind.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: We have all these kingdoms in our life, and it might not be as silly as you know, baking bread.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: The question here is, where are we building kingdoms in our life that we think will last forever when they really won't?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, where are we placing our trust?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a gigantic mad lib, okay?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you placing trust in your life?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Fill in the blank here.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: It could be something far more significant, like you are placing it in success or power or control.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: You are placing it in wealth, you are placing it in um an ex uh an abuse of the rest that God has given you, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are all these different ways that we sort of build kingdoms around us.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: We make our lives about things, thinking that they will satisfy, that they will fill the hole in our heart, but they really don't.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: They really don't.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually they will fade away.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: There is one thing that lasts forever, and it is the kingdom of Christ.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is telling people about that.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, I want you to be prepared, because he goes, here in a moment, I'm gonna go be with the Father.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: A little bit after that, I'm coming back, though.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And when I come back, well, we need to have made a decision by that point in time.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to be prepared.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to know what's coming so that you can be ready for when I return.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's get back real quick to the resurrection, right?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let's ask more, maybe a question beneath the question.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Why does the resurrection even matter?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's neat, it's cool that it happened, but really, why does it matter?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first it matters because it confirms who Jesus is.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I've mentioned this a little bit already, but you can't overstate it.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is like the period at the end of the sentence.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is all that we have been working towards, we have been hearing about, if you're familiar with the Old Testament, like all the prophecy that has been said about Jesus.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: He is the Messiah, the chosen one.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: He has come to save the world from its sin.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: All of those grand claims that God is coming and God is going to die on a cross because God loves you, all of those things he has been telling people, well, now we can trust in them.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: See, miracles have this effect of proving actually the harder to believe things.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's this really neat story earlier in the ministry of Christ where he's been healing a lot of people, you know, free healings, big crowd, right?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's giving us glimpses of what it looks like to see this kingdom that he's talking about in the future.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: We get glimpses of what it looks like now.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's nobody who is blind, there's nobody who has a skin disease, there's nobody who has this bleeding that has lasted for decades, there's nobody who cannot walk, like glimpses.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm casting out demons even, right?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh a foretaste.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see of what God's kingdom is going to look like.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: But there's this moment where these friends, they have a buddy who's paralyzed, and they pick him up and they hold him in a stretcher, right?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And they can't break through the crowd to get to Jesus, but they love their friend and they know that Jesus can heal, and so they find a way on top of the roof and they break through the roof.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's straw and sticks and things like that, and they lower their friend down.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus' first reaction, I love their faith.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing he says, right, is he looks at the man who is sick, who is paralyzed, and he goes, Your sins are healed.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your sins are forgiven.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: And now there's another group of people on the outside, right?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is the folks we call them the Pharisees who have been waiting for Jesus to do something, and they're like, uh-uh- uh, you can't do that.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can't say that their sins are forgiven.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Only God can do that.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus goes, Okay.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that you might know that I have the authority in heaven and on earth to forgive the sins of man, and then he turns to the guy and he says, Get up and walk.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: The miracles do this thing where they show us that what God says is true, that we can have faith in it, that we can believe it.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Second, the resurrection is important because it reframes our entire worldview.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: See, uh, just like, I don't know, if you walked out of here today and somebody came back from the dead, you don't just have a neutral reaction to that.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: You don't just go, huh?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Where are we having lunch again?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't just handle it that way.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: The resurrection of Christ demands a response.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's no situation here where you just think that it is cool or neat or a good idea, right?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: It demands a response.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so, because of that, if all of the things that we are saying are true, right?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: He came back from the dead.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: He is the king.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: He forgives the world of their sin if they trust in him as their savior.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like if those things are true, it should radically reorient the way that we think about our life, our purpose, our identity, our justice, right?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: It radically changes the way we think about our purpose in this world and specifically our relationship to a king, right?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: It touches every aspect of our life because it means, if it's true, it means that you were made by God in his image with a purpose in mind.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And because of sin and rebellion, we have walked away from that purpose.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: We've broken fellowship with God, and it is only through Christ that that can be restored.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: If that is true, your whole life should begin to alter and shift around that truth.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that we just think is fun.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Third, and I'm not here honestly to give you like a list of reasons why you should believe in the resurrection.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: There are lots of great books and podcasts and places where you can do that.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I want to share, though.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: That same room of disciples who was terrified and had locked the door on resurrection morning, right?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: That same group of people, a couple hours after our story, Jesus walks into the room, Thomas, poor Thomas, right?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Doubting Thomas, he goes up and touches Jesus to make sure that he is real in flesh, because Jesus still bears the wounds of his crucifixion.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that same group of people who is terrified of being arrested and being killed and all of those things, every single one of them, except for one person, is going to go out and begin doing nothing but preaching the gospel message and sharing it until such time as they are all martyred for their faith.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: The only guy who isn't is a guy named John, and he's great.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: He wrote a lot of the New Testament.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: God just had a different plan for him.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: But for the other guys in that room, they s something switched in them, right?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Something changed that they moved from fear and to unbelievable courage.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, you do not die for a prank.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: You don't die for a hoax.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Your entire friend group does not go and get themselves killed, knowing that that is ultimately their destination because of a lie.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't happen.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't happen for the hundreds of other people who saw and witnessed this, testified to it, and ultimately faced the same kind of end.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about something real here.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth and finally, why does the resurrection matter?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because it speaks to our deepest need, right?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, we are all going to die.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's if you didn't know that already, I'm sorry I had to be the one who breaks that news to you.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're all going to die.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And in a much more sober way, we have all seen death, experienced it in our loved ones and those we care about.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: It is the worst part of this world is death and disease.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And destruction, right?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, we trust in a Savior who has now overcome that and gives us hope beyond the grave.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: But let's take it down just one notch, right?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because, yes, we're all going to die at some point in time, true, but there's also a whole lot of burden that we carry in this world that we've been hanging on to, and we have just yet to give up.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's hidden things, secret things, stuff we don't share with other people, addictions and sins that we hold on to for so long, can't get rid of.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm going to cut a little bit of a promo here, but I just want to invite you next week.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be starting a new series called Getting Over It.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you see some suitcases there.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's the idea that we're carrying baggage in our life.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that's pretty clever, right?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Carrying baggage in our life.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that Christ invites you to set that down at the cross.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean, let me go ahead and spoil it a little bit.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that your life is perfect afterwards.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that everything's fixed.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean you never sin again.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean you never struggle with anxiety or bitterness or grief or shame or a need for control or any of those things, never rear their ugly head.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it is about discovering that there is more to your life, right?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: That God has designed you for, has given you a purpose, and ultimately there are things that we can lay down, tools that God has given to us and a power that he has invested us with in his spirit to be able to conquer the things of this world.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because if he can conquer death, he can certainly conquer anything that this world has to throw at us.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: But let's be honest here, right?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: The hardest part about Easter Sunday is perhaps not even believing that the resurrection happened.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's believing and knowing that bowing down to him is the only true response.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like the women on the road, right?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: The true response when we see a king is to huddle at his feet in worship.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not something that we do easily.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: I have a huge anti-authority streak in me.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: When I was a junior in high school, I had to write a biography paper.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: I could do it on any person in history, and I chose Zach De La Rocha, who's the lead singer for Rage Against the Machine.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And my English teacher was probably worried, right?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't pick Abraham Lincoln or something.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: But this is that was a part of me, and it continues to be a part of me.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like this idea of bending the knee and submitting to something, it doesn't come natural to us, right?
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: We are all in rebellion against the king.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's like part of it.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's sort of the deal.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we find ourselves in this pit.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we find ourselves in this place that we cannot escape on our own without the help of Christ, is because we are in rebellion against the king.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you something, though.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us bows down to something.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: It might be yourself.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of hard to do physically, but you can bow down to yourself, right?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can make yourself out to be your own king.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can make yourself out to be the one who says, I know what's right, I know what's coming, I know what I'm gonna do, I know what truth is.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody can tell me any different.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: But we all bow down to something.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so here's how Jesus responds to that.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Well, at some point in time, once only the Father knows, every knee is going to bow down to me.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2 says, At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta tell you, we're covering all the zones here.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: We got heaven, we got earth, and we got under the earth.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Every knee is going to bow down to Jesus.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: The question is whether you would like to do that in freedom and through your own choice now, or if you would like to do it later on.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can think of it kind of like a game show in the sense that there's door number one and door number two.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you what's behind both doors.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's not much of a game show, but still.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Door number one, you walk through because you say, Jesus is my Savior.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: He is my king, right?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: He is the one that I bow down to.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that he died on the cross for my sins.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that I am forgiven.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that I am adopted into his kingdom as a son or daughter of the king.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that I am co-heirs with Christ in the heavenly realms.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: I have grace, I have mercy, and I know where I am going when this whole thing is done.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: That is walking through door number one.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can do that right now.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Many of you have done it already.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it today.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it tomorrow as well, but why wait?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because door number two, which everybody who doesn't walk through door number one walks through door number two, it's just kind of a binary option here.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Door number two is Jesus as judge.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: As a king, he's both.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: But if you walk through door number two, you call him judge.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what really this passage is talking about.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: It says, There's a time that is coming where everybody who did not freely, willingly bow their knee to the king, they will be made to bow their knee and recognize his authority, and it won't be good for them, because they are not going to be a part of his kingdom.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're not going to be a part of the place that he was talking about, the one that was returning.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the other part of it is he has given them the opportunity to respond, and they chose not to.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: They've said, I don't really care that you rose from the dead, I don't really care that you died on a cross.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you think he's a wise teacher, maybe you think he's a good person, maybe you think he's an inspiration for you, but savior is not the word that you're using, and therefore, door number two.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Really, the question for us this morning is the tomb is empty and the king is alive.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Will you bend the knee?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: But let's make it real personal, very quick here, right?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say for you individually, what is going on in your heart?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: What is going on in your mind?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because the resurrection has happened, and the question is not did it, but rather what are the ripple effects in our life of how the resurrection changes and transforms who we are, what we do, and what we think, right?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately who we worship.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Will you bend the knee?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because every person is going to do it.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you one final thing.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: We don't worship a tyrant king.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: We don't worship one who is forcing us to bend the knee, at least not at this point, right?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: We worship a good king.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I know, I know what I'm saying is intense, and I know it's a lot, and I know it's kind of hard, especially if you're not used to hearing this sort of thing.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: I get that.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: But you also have to keep in mind that this same king who has come back from the dead and rules right now in heaven and is coming back in the future, he's the same guy that died for your sins three days ago.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's the same guy who is innocent, God himself, who was did not deserve to take that place on the cross, but hung there specifically because he knew that was the only way that you might be a part of his kingdom.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Can't go around it, not any other way, can't work hard enough to do it.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's certainly not the case.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just be a good person, nobody ever is, or at least not to the extent that God requires.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: The only way that we are going into his kingdom, you might say, is through the cross and through the empty tomb.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see, God says.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Come and understand all of these things because he wants you to know who he is, that you might have a life of fulfillment and peace, not because everything is easy, that's often not the case, but because you have a Savior who has raised you up and has given you hope for the future.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to have a conversation about that, ask any questions, investigate for yourself, come and see.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be standing right over there at the end of the service, and I would love to talk with you more about this.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hear your story, talk about what the next steps look like in following after Christ.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: But for the rest of us, what we're going to do this morning is we're gonna finish our service by singing a song together.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: And this song, appropriately, is called All Hail King Jesus.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little on the nose, right?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what the chorus is All hail King Jesus.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: All hail the Lord of heaven and earth.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: All hail King Jesus, all hail the Savior of the world.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is a song that far in the future we are all going to be singing something very much like this.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's bow our heads and pray.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you today.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you for Jesus.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you for his death and his resurrection.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the hope that it provides, Lord, and ultimately the truth that it shows us.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: God, you are real, you are alive, God, and you are working even in our lives today, tomorrow, and forever.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you have given us a promised eternity with you, forever in heaven, for those who trust in your kingdom.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And God, you've said it's coming.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we can even get a glimpse of it here today as we all sing this song together.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: We get a foretaste, Lord, of what your kingdom is going to be like.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: But until that time, Lord, by the power of your spirit, draw us close to you because this world is hard.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is filled with pain oftentimes, even for those who trust in you, and it is not easy.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: You give us hope, you give us peace, you have given us a security that cannot be shaken.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because, Lord, you have had you have authority over heaven and earth, and even death itself.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for these things, and we thank you for Christ.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's in his name we pray.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.