Charles Stanley - Because He Lives
Jesus was crucified and those who stood around Him knew that He was dead. No question in their minds about it; He was a dead man. Nobody expected Him to rise from the grave. He was a dead man, crucified. So, Joseph who was one of the Council came and asked for His body and the body was given to him. And the ladies came bringing their spices and perfumes and so forth to wrap His body. And anybody who thought about a resurrection said it was nonsense. In fact that's what the Bible says. For example, "For these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them". We live in a world where many people still think today that it's nonsense. Why do you and I get together and talk about a dead man? We get together and know in our heart that He's not dead, that He's alive, that He's living within every single one of us.
So, I want you to turn, if you will, to this twenty-fourth chapter of Luke, and it's always good to be reminded, scripturally of what's happening. Twenty-fourth chapter of Luke, beginning in the first verse, "But on the first day of the week, at the early down, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, And when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly appeared and they were in dazzling clothes". They had to be angels. "And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?'" Because they didn't expect Him to be alive. "'He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of the sinful men, and be crucified, and rise on the third day.'"
Think about how many times He talked about all this, they didn't get that part. They got the part about Him being crucified; they didn't like that. The whole idea of rising from the dead was a totally unknown, unbelievable fact. And even when the Son of God walked with them, explained to them carefully, they still didn't believe it. And then the Scripture says, "And they remembered His words, And returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense". They walked with Him, listened to Him, watched Him heal, watched Him do all, watched Him raise Lazarus from the dead. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; and looking in, and John's account of this, Peter ran, he outran him, looked in, Peter walked in to find out what was happening.
So, you and I might ask the question, "So, what does that mean to me"? And I would ask you this question, "Do you really and truly believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was buried, and then, walked out of the tomb"? Most people still don't believe it. A majority of people in the world absolutely do not believe that somebody could be crucified and really die, and then come back alive and be seen and heard. But you and I believe it because, not only the Word of God says it, but He lives within our heart. And in our life we sense His presence and power. And so, I would just like to answer the question, because He does live, what does it mean to you and me personally? So I would just simply begin by saying because He lives, we don't have to live with loneliness in our heart.
We can live with the absolute assurance that Jesus Christ is alive and living within us. It's exactly what He promised. He said to His disciples, for example, before He left, He said, "I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I will come again to you". And so He said, "The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, He'll be in you, with you and upon you. And He will enable you to do the things that I've called you to do, but primarily, I'm going to be there with you". So I'd ask you this question. If you don't believe that Jesus Christ is the resurrected Lord, who's with you? Who can promise you that they'll never leave you? Nobody. Only the Living Christ could make that promise. So because He lives and He's not dead, you and I don't have to live alone. And when He made them a promise that He would never leave them nor forsake them. That's a promise that belongs to every single child of God.
The second thing that I think is important because of the resurrection is this. We don't have to worry about whether God will provide for us or not, because He promised to do that. Now, if He had promised it and stayed on the cross, it'd be meaningless. He promised it; said to His disciples, for example, He said He would provide for them. And in that sixth chapter of Matthew, for example, when He was assuring those early disciples of what He would do for them, making provision for them, no matter what was going on. He made that promise to them. He said as the Father takes care of the birds of the air, the grass, the flowers and all the rest, that He would provide for our needs.
And I wonder how often you and I have needs and we hassle with them, we argue about them, we tell other people about them, but we don't turn immediately to the resurrected Christ who made you this promise that whatever need we have, He will provide that need. Because He doesn't do it exactly when we think He ought to, because He doesn't do it exactly the way we think He ought to, we think, "Well, God where are You"? He's where He's always been. Would you not agree that Jesus would never fail to keep a promise? He is God who came in the human flesh in order to reveal Himself to us. Therefore, this is not just another man making a promise; this is Holy God making a promise.
And so, when I think about the very idea of the resurrection, and the fact that He's taken away all the uncertainty. Jesus is alive, seated at the Father's right hand ready to make provision for everything you and I need. Because He lives, you and I can pray with confidence. And a lot people pray and say words, but they don't pray with confidence. They pray and hope God listens. They hope things are going to work out better. They hope, hope, hope, hope, but no confidence, no assurance. And one of my favorite passages of scripture the Apostle John wrote in that First John, little First John book at the back of the Bible, when He said, "This is the confidence that we have in Him; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us". And if we know that He hears us, we know that we have the petition we desired of Him.
And remember what Jesus said. He said, "Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. He that knocks, it'll be opened". And listen, and He says, "Every single thing that you and I ask in prayer according to His will, He's going to provide". And I think how many times people pray with no expectation. If you pray with no expectation, there's something wrong because that prayer has a great crack right down the middle. We're to pray with confidence. And, you see, the only way you're going to pray with confidence is to believe that Jesus Christ, who went to the cross and paid your sin debt in full, ascended to the Father, is seated at His right hand to make intercession for us. That's what He says. If you don't believe that, then praying is sort of futile. The answers to our prayer, the confidence we have in prayer, is based on the fact that not Jesus was crucified, but based on the fact that He rose from the grave, was seen and, listen, heard, and ascended to the Father. And He says in Hebrews, He sits at the right hand of Almighty God, that's who He is. But if you don't believe that, you haven't, in other words, when you pray, what do you think?
And so many people say, "Well, I pray and nothing happens". You know why? Because nothing happens because you do not believe and expect and anticipate and look for an answer given to you not by your good works but by the Living Christ. Because He lives, everything is different. But it isn't just because He lives, it's because He lives and I believe He lives and I'm committed to that. And then, I think about what He said in, also in the Sermon on the Mount. Because He lives, that you and I can have a godly, powerful influence in the lives of others. And you'll remember He used a couple of illustrations here in this Sermon on the Mount. And He said, for example, "You are the light of the world". He's talking about us, His children, "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house". Listen to this, "Let your light so shine," that those, listen, "who see your good works will glorify your Father who is in heaven".
What is He saying? God intends for us to live the kind of life, watch this, in this spiritually very dark world, that you and I would be lights. And there are people today who would like to put out our light. The one thing about our relationship to Jesus Christ, nobody can put that light out, because that is Christ living on the inside of you through the Holy Spirit. And He intends for us to live the kind of life that we influence others. He said, "The light of the world, the salt of the earth". And because He, listen, not because He was just crucified, but because He was crucified and lives within us. It's not our life; it's His life. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ made all of this possible. And then I think about this. I think about the fact that because He lives, we experience the Holy Spirit within us.
When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, it was because the Holy Spirit was doing His work in your life, opening your eyes, opening your ears, opening your understanding to understand what it means for Jesus to die a substitutionary death which meant He was your substitute. God placed upon Jesus all of your sin and your guilt. He was your substitute so that you'd not have to pay the price of eternal separation from God. And now, what did He do? He sealed every single one of us. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit didn't just come into your life. The Bible says in Ephesians twice, He came into your life to seal you as a child of God. And listen carefully, you may be one of those persons who says, "Well, I've been saved and I've sinned against God and, and I'm lost as I can be".
If you've been saved, watch this carefully, if you've been saved, which means that you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have confessed Him as your personal Savior by confessing and repenting of your sins. You've trusted Him as a child of God to save you. The Spirit of God is the One who comes into your life and seals you as a child of God. And, listen, nobody, no one under any condition can break the seal of God. So, if you're one of those persons who's been saved and you think, "Well, I used to be saved". No, you either weren't or you still are, because God's seal cannot be broken by anything. It's the resurrected Christ who makes our salvation so certain, so absolutely secure, so unbreakable. The salvation that He died for is not something we have to work at keeping up. Sealed, the Bible says. "Well, how long"? Until the day of redemption, ultimately, until He comes again, we are sealed as His children. And because He lives, I know that that's true. And you and I can count on it.
We're not saved for a season. We're not saved if. We're not saved when and but, we're saved by the grace of God; the third Person of the Trinity seals us forever as one of His children. So praise God we can sing. Because He lives, we can face all kinds of tomorrows. Then I think about it in this light. And that is, because He lives, we can be at peace in the midst of the most difficult times in our life; the most difficult times. He said, "My peace," watch this. He said, "My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid".
Now what kind of peace does the world give? Well, I can tell you what some folks try. Some people, when they're going through difficult circumstances, they decide to drink. And they think if they drink enough, they'll drink away their sorrows. No, you can't. Or they're on some other kind of drug. Or all kinds of immorality and all kinds of situations and circumstances, doing their best to forget their circumstance, to overcome it by being totally obnoxious in their attitude and their conduct. No, when the scripture says peace, it's the peace that He gives that's able to sustain us. That is, when you're going through the most difficult times, He is your anchor. That nothing can blow you away from the anchor, the Lord Jesus Christ, because remember who He is. This is God who came in the flesh to reveal the Living God. And He's seated at the Father's right hand. And He says, "My peace I give unto you".
The world's got all kind of approaches for peace. Most of it's in a bottle or most of it is in some kind of container. The peace that He gives cannot be contained by anything; because it's the peace of Almighty God. But if you don't have Him as your Savior, you don't have anything. Let me ask you this. What assurance do you have about anything in your life if you reject the Son of God, the Savior, the Lord, the Master? If you reject Him and refuse to accept Him into your life, what assurance do you have? Don't fool yourself. You can't have enough money. You can't have enough things. You can't go enough places. You can't control enough. You can't be big enough in the eyes of people, because, you see, you don't have anything in reality until you find Jesus Christ as your Savior and you trust your life to Him.
Now, there's a passage of scripture I want to turn to that, to make all this a reality, and that is Romans chapter ten. There are two verses in this passage I want you to listen to carefully. Because Paul says in these two verses, there are many others, but I just chose these two. Listen to this, "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved". What he's saying is if you verbally say what is true in your heart, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I believe that He's risen from the dead. Those two things are absolutely essential. You must be willing to confess Him as Lord and you must be willing to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Do you believe that? If somebody says, "Well, I don't know about that," then you're not saved.
Paul makes it very clear in just that one verse. Then he says, "for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation". He made it very clear what salvation's all about. He didn't say anything about going to church to be saved, though we come to celebrate Him. He didn't say anything about good works to be saved because he says, "For by grace are ye saved". My undeserved love and favor, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; that not of yourselves: that faith is the gift of God: lest any person should boast". Our salvation is wrapped up in His awesome love and power, not in our good works; not what we do; not what we say we're going to do. But just the fact that He is the living resurrected Christ, Lord.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever come to the place in your life where you acknowledged I'm a sinner; disobeyed God; rebelled against God; had my way. Have you ever done that? And then ask Him to forgive you, not on the basis of looking around to see how good you've been; but looking at the cross and recognize His death was not simply the death of a man. It was a substitutionary death. He took your place. Now, watch this. Only God could die for the sins of the whole world. Only He could take upon Himself all the sin of all mankind for all of time. That's who He is. And so therefore, our salvation depends upon our relationship to Jesus Christ, the Son of God; the second Person of the Trinity; the Living God who lives within you. If you are going to heaven, there's only one route. And that's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; confession of Him as your Savior; and believe that He is the resurrected Lord.
And Father, how grateful we are You made Your message so simple, trusting You; trusting in what You did at the cross; believing what You left us, an empty tomb and the awesome assurance that You're the Living God. We say thank you in Jesus' name, amen.