Craig Groeschel - Finding Hope When Life Is Hard
So I wanna ask you very sincerely, why are you here today? Like no Easter face, God is good smile. Like genuinely, why are you here today? Some of you would say, «I am here because Jesus has changed my life. It’s Easter. I’m all in». Others of you would say, «I’m here because my parents made me come,» right? Or someone bribed you, like, «If you come to Easter with me, I’ll buy you a meal».
Some of you, it’s just because what you do, right? It’s Easter and you’re gonna hunt eggs, you’re gonna dress up, you’re gonna go get a meal. You may go to grandma’s house and pretend like you like her ham. Whatever it is, it’s Easter. It’s what you do. And so I’d ask you like sincerely, why are you here? Like what’s the big deal about Easter anyway? Because for a lot of people, let’s call it what it is, this is just like another holiday and then Monday comes around and your life still feels heavy and you still feel broken. Why are you here?
What I wanna do today is I wanna show you why Easter and more specifically why the resurrection of Jesus changes everything and not just for the world, but why it changes everything for you. God’s word says in 1 Peter 1:3, scripture says this, «Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, God has given us new birth into a living hope». Through what? «Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade». Because of the resurrection of Jesus, your story isn’t over, your past isn’t final, and your pain isn’t permanent. Ultimately, I declare to you that Jesus gets the final word. Today, we give Him glory. And at all of our churches, would you just join your faith with mine in prayer?
God, thank you for every person that you brought here today to celebrate who You are, Your goodness, Your grace, and the empty tomb. God, would you draw us close, heal our hurts, build our faith, and bring people to know the goodness of your son Jesus. It’s in His name that we pray. And all God’s people said… Amen. Amen, and amen.
Well, we’re in a message series on the Apostles' Creed. And so if you weren’t here with us in the last three weeks, which is about half of you, wink, wink, wink, wink, wink. If you weren’t here with us, the Apostles' Creed was written in the second century and it’s been called the most succinct and powerful summary of the Christian faith. And so today, at all of our different churches, if you’re able, I’d love if you would just stand to your feet and join your voices with believers throughout history as we declare this unshakeable truth. Would you say it with me?
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day, He rose again. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
And everybody said amen, amen. High-five the person next to you. Tell 'em, «You did good, you did good». Go ahead and have a seat today. And what I wanna do just with our church family and those of you who may be new, is I wanna look at the heart of the gospel story and the phrases from the creed that says this, «Jesus was crucified, died and was buried». Let’s look at these together. «He descended to the dead. On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father and will come again to judge the living and the dead».
This raises the question that I wanna talk about for just a minute. Why did Jesus have to die? If Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, why did He, the Son of God have to die? And I wanna spend a moment to unpack this. And if you’ve maybe been around the church in it all, we know that our God is a very holy God. He is holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, and because of His holiness sin breaks His heart. And the challenge is every single one of us, all of you and me, we’ve all sinned, right? Like you’ve told a lie, you’ve cheated, you’ve lusted, you’ve cussed, you flipped somebody off, hopefully not driving in church, but you might have. And there’s good news, there’s grace for you if you did, we’ve all sinned. In fact, scripture tells us this in Romans 3, very, very clearly, that, «For everyone,» that includes me, that includes you, is, «We’ve all sinned and we all fall short of God’s glorious standard».
Now this is amazing. «God, in His grace, He freely makes us right in His sight». Not because we are good, but because He’s good. «He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus,» as the what? Let’s say it aloud. «He presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin». Now, why did Jesus have to be a sacrifice for our sins? Well, in the Old Testament, God established the sacrificial system and a high priest would offer an animal sacrifice as a temporary covering for sin.
In other words, it wasn’t permanent, but it was temporary. And if you’ve been around, maybe in Sunday school or something, or read the Bible, you might remember in Exodus 12 there was something called the Passover when they would take a sacrificial lamb and they would kill that lamb and then take the blood of the lamb and put it on their doors. They’d put some on the top of the door, and they’d put some on one side, and the other side. And because of the sacrifice of the lamb and because of the shed blood, the death angel would pass over as a temporary covering because of the sacrifice of the lamb.
Now you jump forward to the New Testament. Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God. He’s been called the Lamb of God. And His sacrifice, because He is the son of God, is not temporary, but it is completely permanent. Now here’s what’s crazy. If you go back to the Old Testament in Exodus and you think about the sacrifice of the Old Testament lamb, when they would take the blood and put it on the top of the doorpost, sometimes that blood might drip down to the bottom. And then you have blood on both sides. All the way back in the Old Testament you get a glimpse or a foreshadow of the cross there buried and foreshadowed in Exodus, describing one day the Lamb of God, Jesus, who would be slain for our sins, that we could be forgiven and made new, a picture of the cross.
Now, fast forward to today, and this is fascinating. If you know the history of the cross, the cross has changed a lot today. When you think about the cross today, a lot of people would think about a necklace or a piece of jewelry. Some people might think of a lovely decoration you hang on your wall for Mardel. Look at my beautiful cross. Some of you, you’re so cool, you got a cross tattoo. This would’ve been insane around the time when Jesus lived because the Romans saw the cross not as a decoration but as the cruelest instrument of torture reserved for the worst of criminals or for slaves designed to inflict the maximum shame and pain possible. When we think of the cross today, and you see pictures of it, the crosses you see today, if you see Jesus up on the cross, He’s generally way up their high and people are kinda looking up at him.
Most likely the crosses that were used then they were actually shorter and very likely his feet would’ve only been a few inches off the ground. And the reason is they would strip the victims down completely naked to shame them. They would drive seven inch stakes through their wrist and through their their heels, crushing the nerves. Then people could come by and basically look 'em in the eye and curse at them and spit on them while they would be hanging their naked. And the only way the victims or Jesus who had done nothing wrong could ever breathe is they would have to pull themselves up with their wrists driving that stake into painfully into their body, push themselves up, baking in the heat of the sun, and do this as long as they could until finally they had no more strength and they would suffocate and die. The word we use today, excruciating, came from the crucifixion. It literally means out of the cross.
But I want you to understand, and I want you to feel this and feel it with me, is that Jesus didn’t just die for us, He suffered for us. He didn’t just die for me, He suffered for me. And 700 years before this event, 700 years before this event, Isaiah prophesied what Jesus would do for us. This is what Isaiah said. He said 700 years before, «He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed». And what I want you to know, and hear, and feel, and believe, is that you are not alone in what you’re going through at this moment. Whatever you’re experiencing, rejection, He experienced it too. Physical pain, He experienced it too.
Whatever you’re going through, Jesus understands the weight that you are carrying. He understands the pain that you are hiding. He understands if your heart is breaking and it’s too raw and too close for me to tell you the details. But this week Amy and I and our family experienced significant trials and Jesus knew what it was like, and He was with us in every moment. His grace carried us, He strengthened us when we were weak, and He was very, very good in the middle of very real pain. And what I want you to hear is, if you are broken, by His wounds, you are healed. Amen. He is so good. He’s not just a Easter story, and we hunt Easter eggs. It is the living Son of God who suffered and died so we could be whole, forgiven, and healed.
Now just for fun, 'cause it’s Easter, I wanna deal with one of the least understood parts of the Apostle’s Creed. People fight over this like crazy, and so I just thought I’d bring it up so you could fight too. Lemme show it to you. If you’ve been around the church world, you might know this. The Apostles' Creed said, «Jesus with crucified, died, and was buried». Say this part aloud. «He descended to the dead». If you said this in church, you might’ve said that or you might’ve said He descended into hell. It’s another version and it kind of means something similar. What is that? Did Jesus die and go to hell?
Let’s talk about it just for a second because this is actually pretty powerful In the New Testament, there are two Greek words used to describe the realm of the dead. There’s the word Hades and there’s the word Gehenna. Two different Greek words actually describing different places. I’ll show you what they mean. Hades is a temporary holding place for the souls awaiting judgment. And Gehenna is not temporary, but it’s eternal. It’s the place of eternal separation from God in hell. We need to understand Jesus did not go to Gehenna, He went to Hades. And He didn’t go there to suffer, but He went there to proclaim victory. And we know this from scripture in 1 Peter 3:18, which tells us this, «Jesus never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered». He didn’t just die for us, He suffered for us. «He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the spirit. So He went and preached to the spirits in prison, to those who disobeyed God long ago».
When people say, «He descended to the dead or He descended into to hell,» they’re referring to the fact that He went and preached to these spirits. Now, who were those spirits? Good question. We don’t know for sure. Some theologians would say, «Well, that was fallen angels». Other theologians would say, «Well no, that’s the unrighteous dead. The people in the Old Testament that died without having the ability to put their faith in Jesus 'cause Jesus wasn’t here. And Jesus went and preach to them and gave them the chance to believe».
Whatever the case is, here’s what we do know. We don’t know all the details, but what we do know is what Jesus told us in Revelation 1:18 when Jesus said this. He said, «I am the Living One. I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. I hold the key. Death no longer has power over you». And that’s why believers throughout the centuries have declared, «I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead». And then the heart of the gospel is this. Someone say it with me. «On the third day, He rose again». On the third day when the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty, He was not there. He was risen. Now just for fun, I wanna show you the power behind this. What day was it discovered the tomb was empty? It was the… Very good. A fourth of you.
Hey, it’s Easter, some of you haven’t been here since Christmas. Let’s have some fun with this. I’m gonna ask you a question and everybody today, all of our churches, on what day was the stone rolled away? On the third day. How many of you know that in the Bible, numbers actually have meanings? The really cool term for it, if you wanna impress your friends and neighbors is numerology. If you just add ology to anything, it becomes really powerful. I’m cool-ology. That was dumb. I won’t say that again. Numerology. And what I’m gonna do is just show you some of the numbers that have meanings.
We’ll look at just seven of them. What does one mean? One means unity or it means God. Two, it means division like it’s divided, or it means witness like you have two witnesses. Skip three, just for fun. Go to four. Four is the number of the earth. Five, this is God’s grace. Six is the number of imperfection. Seven is the number of perfection. Seven is God’s number. Six is less than perfection, which is 6, 6, 6. That’s very much less than perfection. What is three? Three actually means wholeness or completion. When the job was done, when Jesus finished the work, when He completed the will of God and the divine assignment, on the third day, the stone was rolled away and Jesus was risen from the dead.
Now, just again to make sure you’re all with me and online, you can type it in the comment section, hint, type in third, that’s the right answer. On what day did we discover the stone was rolled away and Jesus was raised from the dead? on the… Third day. And I wanna show you just for fun, some of the different places in the Bible where you see completeness and the perfection of three things. For example, we’ve talked about it in this message series, God is Trinity. What does that mean? He’s three in one. He’s the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are made in the image of God and we are triune beings. We are body, soul, and spirit, the three. The angels cried out to God, not once, not two times, but three times. «He is holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty».
How many days did Jonah spend in the belly of the big fish? How many days? Three. Three. How many days was Paul blinded by the bright light? Three. How many tablets did Moses bring down from the mountain? Three. Two, you gotta pay attention. Maybe three. Maybe he dropped one and we were supposed to have 15 commandments. I don’t know. But the right answer is actually two. How many gifts did the wise men bring Jesus? Three. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Jesus' public ministry, how many years did it last? Three years. Three years. Jesus called himself three things. He was The Way… The Truth and The Life. How many times did God speak audibly to His Son? Three times. In the garden, Jesus prayed how many times to the Father? Three times. On the hill, how many people were crucified? Three men were crucified. Above the head of Jesus, it was written, King of the Jews in how many languages? Three languages. In Aramaic, in Greek and in Latin.
Jesus was placed on the cross at the third hour of the day. And at 3:00 PM He said, «It is finished». Technically He said, «Tetelestai» in Greek, but it’s more fun to say, «It is finished». And the earth shook and the darkness covered the land for how many hours? For three hours. And the world waited. And day one, they had no real hope. They saw no evidence of the power or the presence of God. And day two was worse because they had already waited day one and they saw nothing. No evidence of the presence of the power of God, day two. But while they were waiting, guess what? Jesus was still working. Scripture tells us we’re not really sure of the details, but He was preaching to the spirits and I guarantee it was a good sermon.
And at some point He probably said to the devil, «Not today, Satan. Hand them things over. Those keys no longer belong to you. Now I hold the keys of death, hell, and the grave». And on day two, the disciples who had left everything to follow Him, were just kind of waiting. And I wanna speak to those of you who feel like you’re in the middle of day two right now. You have a need, you have a hurt, you have a weight, you have a fear, and it feels like nothing’s happening. And I want to tell you, and I want you to believe me, and I want you to feel it, and I want you to have faith for it, that when it feels like or it seems like God is silent, it does not mean that He’s absent. He’s absolutely with you now. He is for you. He loves you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He’s working in all things to bring about good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. He is righteous. He is pure.
Whenever you’re weak, His strength is made perfect. Whenever you’re hurting, He comforts you. Whenever you’re lost, He’s your guide. On day two, they didn’t see anything. Then when the job was complete, when Jesus had done what His father sent Him to do, on the third day, the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty. The son of God was not there because God raised Him from the dead. The perfect sacrifice, the resurrection, the work of God complete. God made a way for our sins to be forgiven and provided the road to our healing. And in the creed it says this, «And Jesus now sits at the right hand of God the Father».
This is actually both powerful and is kind of funny. It’s powerful because Jesus is sitting at the right hand. That is the position of power. It’s funny because most theologians believe this was actually a political jab because everybody said, «Caesar is the most powerful». To say Jesus is at the right hand, is saying He is more powerful than even Caesar. And what’s He doing at the right hand of God? It’s interesting. Not standing, not kneeling. He’s sitting. Why does it even matter that Jesus is sitting? Well, Hebrews tells us this in Hebrews 10, so powerful. «Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar, day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins».
Remember, it’s just a temporary covering for the sins. And so he stands, because the work is not complete. «But our High Priest, whose name is Jesus, He offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for our sins good for all time. Then when he had done the perfect work of God, He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand». Why? Because he finished the assignment that our God sent Him to do, proving the goodness of God, that He loved us so much, that He sent his one and only Son, Jesus that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.
Why did Jesus sit down? Because He finished the work. And what’s He doing now? Scripture tells us He’s actually praying for you. That’s what it says. That He’s making intercession for the people of God at this moment. And He’s seated at the right hand of God the Father. Until one day when the trumpet of God sounds, and guess what He’s gonna do? He will stand up and He will return for those He loves. And He will come again to judge the living and the dead. «I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. And I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate. He died, He was crucified for us. The third day, He rose again from the dead».
Jesus, He did that for you. And so why are you here? Like really, why are you here? I’ll tell you why I’m here. It’s not because I grew up in church. It’s not because I got my act together. It’s not because I earned God’s love. I’m here because Jesus found me at my lowest when I was not only unkind, but I was like… I mean, I was the guy you looked at and said, «Someone needs to just arrest him, beat him up, something». That was me. I was that guy. And He died for my lies, He died for my pride, He died for my addictions, He died for my shame. And He didn’t just die for me. He died instead of me. And that’s why I’m here. Not because I’m good, but because He’s good. And so I wish I could sit down with… I wish I could sit down with you, just face to face one, one-on-one and just ask you, like, «Let’s just talk about it, why are you… Really, why are you here? Outta tradition? Outta guilt? Just to make someone happy»?
What if maybe, just maybe, God brought you here today to remind you that Jesus didn’t just die for you, but He died instead of you. That’s how good He is. That’s how much He loves you. He took your place, He carried your shame. He paid your debt. By His shed blood, your sins can be forgiven. By His resurrection, you have hope. By His wounds, you are healed. I came to tell somebody, it doesn’t matter why you came today, because of who He is and because of what He did. It may feel like day two. You may be hurting, and you may be waiting, and you may be suffering, and you may be full of questions, and you don’t know where He is.
Just because He feels silent, does not mean He’s absent. He’s a good, a loving, and all powerful God who was thinking about you when He sent His Son to suffer for you. And so hear it, and feel it, and believe it, because the tomb is empty, because Jesus has risen. Your story isn’t over, and your past isn’t final, and your pain isn’t permanent because Jesus is risen from the dead and Jesus gets the final word. Somebody tell Him «thank you». Somebody worship Him for who He is. Somebody give Him praise for what He’s done. He has risen from the dead. He is all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present, and He is with you now.
So Father, we pray, that no matter why someone is here, that we would all encounter Your loving presence and we would all be changed by the hope we have in You through the resurrection of Your Son, Jesus.
I want to pray for many of you today right now. There’s some of you, it feels like day two right now, like you’re waiting on a answered prayer or you need a miracle. It could be like a miracle for your marriage or a miracle for a kid, or financial provision. It feels like day two right now and you need the presence of the risen Christ. If that’s you today, wherever you’re watching from at all of our churches, maybe online, if you say, «Yes, I need the presence of the risen Christ in my life», would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift them up. You can type in the comment section, «I need the presence of Christ». I’m gonna just stop it again, and I’m just gonna say, listen to me. Some of you, you’re new. This is a safe place. We’re all got our eyes closed. Head bowed. If you need a touch from God, if you need His presence, just lift your hand up high, boldly, right now, and say, «I need his presence».
God, I pray for every person with a hand lifted toward heaven. And God, I thank you that when we draw near to You, You draw near to us. God, so as they call out to You, reveal Your goodness, Your grace, Your mercy, God, Your kindness. God, we need Your power. God, there are those who need miracles. God, there are those who just need to know You’re with them. God, we thank you that you meet our needs and that by the stripes upon Jesus, that we are healed. By faith, God, we believe You’re working.
As you keep praying today, there are some of you, if I said, «Why are you here»? It could be any number of different reasons, but if we could just sit down and talk openly, some of you would say, «Man, I’m hurting. I know I’ve done wrong. I feel the weight of my sin». And you don’t know where you stand with God, but there’s something drawing you to God right now. Let me tell you what that is. That’s God. That’s God. It’s His Holy Spirit who loves you and is drawing you toward Him. And I wanna tell you right now that God loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus. What do you do to receive His love? Well, remember God is holy, and we’ve all sinned, and our sin separates us from God.
So today we just… The Bible calls it repent. That means we turn away from our sin and we call on the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name. And when you call on the name of Jesus, God hears your prayers and He forgives all of your sins. He makes you new today. At all of our churches, those of you that you don’t know where you stand with God, you know you’ve done wrong, you feel the weight, you feel guilty today, guess what? It’s good news. It’s really, really good news. Today, your sins are gonna be wiped away. You’re gonna be made brand new wherever you’re watching from. If that’s you today, «I need His forgiveness. I need His grace». Today, we’re stepping away from our sin and we’re gonna call on the name of Jesus.
If that’s you, «I need His forgiveness, I need His grace. I’ve been away, I’m coming back to Him. Jesus, I need you.» if you’re gonna call on Him today, when you do, God hears your prayer, He forgives your sins, He makes you brand new. All of our churches, you say, «That’s me today, by faith I give You my life. Jesus, I call on You. I give my life to you». That’s your prayer. Lift your hands high right now all over the place and say, «Yes, that’s my prayer».
Right back over there and right over here. God bless you, guys. Others today say, «Yes, Jesus». And over here, praise God for you. Oh, my gosh. All of you back up there. Lift your hands and say, «Yes». Oh man, right over here. Come on, church. Somebody ought to give God praise today. Others today say, «Yes, Jesus. I surrender to you. Be the Lord of my life». Online, type in the comment section, «I’m surrendering my life to Jesus». Just type that, «I’m surrendering my life to Jesus». And everybody pray:
Heavenly Father. Forgive my sins. Jesus, I trust you to save me. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I could know You and serve You for all of my life. My life is not my own. I give it to You. In Jesus name, I pray.